Cast and Crew
by blvckfawn
Summary: Part of Andre Harris had known since freshmen year of high school that he'd one day be coerced into helping Jade and Cat move in together. Perhaps not under the current circumstances, but the general outcome was inevitable. (Established career!verse cade)
1. Chapter 1

Part of Andre Harris had known since freshmen year of high school that he'd one day be coerced into helping Jade and Cat move in together. Perhaps not under the current circumstances, but the general outcome was inevitable.

He sets down the corner of the television he'd been holding up carefully onto the floor as soon as he steps out of the elevator. Jade sticks a foot out just in time to stop the closing door from hitting the screen, a low, frustrated growl coming from the back of her throat.

**"Andre, come on. Made it this far." **she 'encourages', slowly bending to set down her own corner, holding the elevator door open, still.

**"You're lucky you're so scary." **Andre tells her as he uses the tie on his wrist to pull the dreads back from his face, bending down to lift the television once more. Sweat beads on his forehead. Jade doesn't look too bothered.

**"I'm what?" **she asks as he hobbles backward into the apartment in sync with her shuffling forward. Her tone is sharp despite the strain it's under from the physical activity.

**"Pretty." **he tells her, without missing a beat. He catches her eye around the screen and even she can't help but smile a little, chuckling lowly as the pair makes their way into the living room area.

**"Up on the stand." **Jade commands.

**"The TV?" **Andre hears himself asking, knowing she hates the smart ass comments but having no choice in the matter. **"On the TV stand? Strange." **he mocks.

Jade goes to growl at him, but he can tell by the glint in her eye that whatever retort she's about to come back with is going to have no real coldness to it. Before Andre can hear whatever the mystical insult was about to be, Cat bounces in from the main hallway. She'd likely been in the bedroom, trying to figure out which one of the boxes she'd packed her cell charger in. Clearly, she's made herself comfortable already, a pair of HA sweatpants rolled down a few times at the waist, a plain white tank top. Even her hair is completely down - Andre's a little shocked to realize that he hasn't seen her like that since high school.

**"You're back! Is that the last of it?" **Cat asks, nodding to the TV as she runs a hand through her hair, clutching her phone in her free hand. The three of them had been back and forth across the city all day with boxes and furniture. Jade swore up and down that something was _bound _to go missing if they used a moving company.

**"Better be." **Jade immediately whines, turning to look at Andre as if it's _his _fault they own so much stuff between the two of them.

**"There's one more box in my trunk." **he admits, **"I'll go down and grab it, you guys can start… organizing, all this." **he gestures to the various boxes across the floors and swiftly makes his way back toward the elevator.

**"Hi."**

**"Hm, hi." **

He turns himself around and shuts the door just in time to catch the tail end of the brunette smirking and pulling the redhead in by the shoulder to kiss her temple.

The hot summer sun beats down on his head and shoulders when he steps out of the protective shade offered by the various greenery around the outside of the complex. He'll have to ask if Cat and Jade want to grab an iced coffee with him before he heads back to Hollywood. The last box is surprisingly light for such a large box, and he can't help but flick the lid off of the top to check the contents. Tori's album is crammed between the wall of the box and a pillow shaped like a zebra, and Andre has to stop to pull it out and look it over.

_"Love you, kittycat, stay beautiful! XOXO"_

Tori's signature is scrawled under it in silver sharpie. The tone of the message, even though it's only written, is almost cold. It's impersonal, and uncomfortable, and Andre finds himself frowning as he closes the case and sticks it back into the box. His walk back up to their apartment is too quiet, now that Jade isn't barking commands and directions at him while he walks backwards with ridiculously expensive electronics. The silence vanishes as the elevator doors open and he's bombarded with the sound of Cat squealing. It's perfectly harmonized with Jade laughing, both of them whining and exclaiming things at each other that Andre can't completely hear until he's totally in the apartment.

**"Whoa." **he sets down the box closer to Cat's things, in case she wants to keep it private. He's pretty sure that if she wanted Jade seeing the CD, it would have been in the boxes with the rest of their massive music collection.

Cat is nestled into Jade's lap with a small box of what appear to be photos, flipping through them while Jade apparently tries to distract her by blowing on her ears while she tries to concentrate.

**"I didn't realize anyone had any of these left kicking around." **Andre admits as he steps closer, picking one out of the box with a grin. It's the six of them - Cat, Jade, Tori, Robbie, Beck, and himself - they're crowded around the rec room's ping pong table, clutching the massive fake gold-plated trophy they'd just bought for themselves. Sikowitz is no where to be seen - he must have taken the photo.

**"Cat's a hoarder." **Jade explains.

**"Am not! This is **_**your **_**box!" **she outs the brunette, squealing again when she's rewarded with the ticklish spot under her ribs being squeezed.

**"I wouldn't want to lose these if I were you." **Andre eases her momentary embarrassment, smiling genuinely as he gently drops the photo back into the box. **"You'll have to email me a few of those." **He rubs his hands together as Cat deposits the box back onto the floor and stands up from Jade's lap, brushing herself down softly.

**"Did you guys want to grab a Starbucks? It's way too hot in here." **He offers the suggestion while tugging at the chest of his shirt and releasing it, trying to get a little airflow going. The air-conditioning wasn't turned on until right before bringing up the TV and the apartment windows are letting in far too much heat for the three of them to stay inside for much longer.

**"Definitely. Put some real pants on, Cat." **Jade stands up as well, already pulling her long black hair up into a high pony. The light curls bounce as she tightens the elastic and Andre pretends not to notice the sparkly-eyed look of admiration on Cat's face as she heads down the hallway to change again.

He's known Jade and Cat for what feels like forever, but getting to know _Jade and Cat _is a little different. They don't act very different from the way he's used to, but there are small things that they now do that sometimes surprise him or take him off guard. Or maybe it's that they were always that way and he'd just never noticed, before.

**"And **_**please **_**take it easy on perfume, I'm getting a headache." **Jade calls after the redhead, stretching her arms tiredly before turning to Andre. **"Thank you, again." **she reminds him.

**"Anytime." **he grins, nudging her softly as Cat bounds back out into the living room, skirt twirling as she begins to dig through the boxes for a pair of suitable, coordinating shoes.

There's something in the way that Jade immediately starts opening boxes impatiently to help speed Cat's process along, huffing at her about how she should have gotten rid of a few pairs before moving instead of filling six different boxes and labelling them all 'SHOES'. Her tone is irritable, whiny from the heat. It's completely real and the way that Cat just shrugs it off and keeps looking is so genuinely _them _that Andre finds himself arguing, even as the argument grows to a speaking-volume level. Nothing about Jade's tone is condescending. She takes every part of Cat, her childish demeanour and lack of seriousness, with total unapologetic honesty. The brunette will snap a quick 'shut up' when Cat's getting too loud, or remind her to take her vitamins at lunch without batting an eye at her pouting about it. When Cat makes a less-than-intelligent comment, she'll blatantly ignore her or correct her - no pat to the top of her head with an 'Ok, Cat.' Jade wouldn't sign an album with 'Stay beautiful, XOXO.'

**"These ones?" **Jade holds up a pair of pale pink flats, but Cat shakes her head.

**"The ones with the bows." **

Andre expects Jade to groan and continue boredly hunting through boxes, but she lights up.

**"Wait, those are in this one." **she yanks another box closer from nearby and flips it open, digging through for a moment before handing the pair of shoes off to Cat.

**"Can we go get iced coffee, now, please?" **Andre feigns impatience, but Jade is the first one to the elevator, tugging Cat along while she continues to try to pull her shoes on.

They decide to walk, despite the heat - the light breeze gives them the impression of cool air and makes it seem less horrible than being inside the apartment. The nearest Starbucks is only six blocks up from the complex, both Jade and Cat are happy to learn. Andre drops a pin on his phone to remind himself to get out to visit them more often.

**"- bonfire, tomorrow night. You're coming, right?" **Andre hadn't even realized Cat had been talking to him. She pulls at his arm, all bright-eyed and smiling while Jade orders her coffee for her (grande iced caramel macchiato, seven pumps of raspberry and one pump of vanilla)

**"Bonfire? Tomorrow?" **He wants to be there, but he knows it won't be until late. He was sort of trying to keep it a secret, but -

**"What, unless, like, you're busy with something." **Jade's speaking to him, now, returned with three cold drinks and handing two off to the pair in front of her.

He scratches at the back of his head nervously. Cat's a lot easier to distract or lie to than Jade is. Maybe that's why they're such a good combination - they pick up what the other lacks to keep things balanced. **"I've got some studio time tomorrow evening, so I can come, but it won't be until a bit la-"**

**"**_**Shut **_**up." **Jade grins at him - he's only seen that smile a few times in his life, and it still makes him feel ridiculously privileged every time he does.

**"Calm down, calm down, it's nothing big." **he tries to downplay it, but he's just as excited on the inside. He hasn't had a lot of work since Tori's album and he's more than a little pumped to lay down some new material. Before he can be bombarded with questions, and things to get his hopes up, he deflects the conversation completely, **"Should you even be having coffee?" **he looks at Cat, though his tone is mock-serious his eyes are glinting playfully. **"What time's your call time tomororow?"**

**"Six, Andre, it's at six." **Cat's voice is surprisingly pouty, but she's trying not to smile when he locks eyes with her. **"And it's not even dinnertime, what am I, ten?"**

Jade opens her mouth but Cat puts a finger up.

**"Don't even." **she warns. She stays serious for a moment as she sips her drink before her face breaks into a grin. **"I can't believe we finally moved in. This last month has lasted, like, **_**eons." **_

They meander over to a nearby faux-vintage table, crowding around it as they talk. The conversation drifts from Cat's job back to Andre's studio time - he admits that he's been waiting to tell them but didn't want to count his chickens before they hatched - and he also promises to come by the bonfire afterward no matter what the cost. Jade lights up when Cat tells her that Robbie is bringing his new girlfriend - apparently she's been waiting for weeks to meet her, probably to decide if she gets the stamp of approval - and then the pair of them badger Andre about his love life until the sun begins to set and they decide to part ways for the evening. Jade promises she'll cook spaghetti if Cat stops whining about having to leave, and Andre has to admit he feels a bit jealous. He's going back to Hollywood to grab takeout sushi and catch up on paperwork which he is _not _looking forward to as much as the two of them are probably looking forward to going home and christening their new apartment.

The drive back to Hollywood from Calabasas is only a half hour given the traffic, but Andre finds himself doing a lap around his block before pulling over and parking the car. Tori's CD is in the glove compartment just an arm's reach away but he hasn't pulled it out in months. He hadn't been tempted to until now, really.

Track three is his favourite and he doesn't even realize he's put the CD in the player until it reaches the chorus - he must have been sitting out there a good ten minutes, just lost in thought. He's seen clips from her tour on twitter and tumblr, photos of her splayed everywhere with hashtags signifying the inside jokes her fans have and things they're trying to trend to get her attention.

_**"Every time I think of how it started, every time I remember where I came from ~" **_

Reaching over he hits the volume button with more aggression than it deserves to turn the music off, sighing and reaching for his phone before heading inside. It's easy to pretend she's still his best friend on snapchat because they talk, when it's really just mass-sent videos of her with her new crew on their bus. It's easy to pretend she's near the top of his 'new messages' list because they're staying close, when it's really just legal formalities, making sure he's still getting his cheques.

It's easy to pretend that they'll all go back to being an ensemble when she returns in a few months, when really, the circle just keeps getting smaller and smaller.


	2. Chapter 2

**"Cat, no more." **Jade sighs heavily and reaches over to Cat, trying to grab the mug back from her. She winces back a little when Cat squeals and swings the mug back out of the brunette's reach, expecting the worst, but by some miracle, no coffee is spilled on the new off-white couch.

**"Stop acting like I'm a **_**child, **_**Jade!" **Cat pouts, not doing herself any favours as she situates the mug between both hands and clutches it close, taking one long, loud sip from it. Cat is usually a morning person, but getting her up for her call time is going to be hell. Jade starts having horrible flashbacks to the last time she'd let Cat have caffeine after 7 pm.

**"Cat…" **her tone is low, warning, and it usually works. She has to hold back a laugh at the little shake of Cat's head she gives her before downing the rest of the coffee. Wouldn't want to encourage her. Reaching over, she chances it and wrestles the mug away from the redhead.

It's empty.

God _damn it._

Across from her on the couch, the redhead bursts into giggles - the attention-deprived brat - and Jade launches herself at her without hesitation. They wrestle on the cushions for a few moments - Jade easily overpowers the smaller girl by strength and intimidation alone but Cat's fucking _slippery. _She's easy to pin once there's a grip on her, but she can squirm like nobody's business. The scuffle continues until Jade manages to crawl on top of her enough to hold her in place, straddling her butt and locking her knees around the curve of her hips. Beneath her, Cat can't stop giggling long enough to get a word in. Jade takes a moment to catch her breath, sighing and running her hands through her hair slowly.

**"Jade-" **Cat starts, but the brunette silences her almost immediately, dipping both hands under the back of Cat's shirt and dragging her nails softly up her back. **"Ooooh-kay." **

It's Jade's trump card, but it doesn't always work the same way. She continues gliding her nails up and down the other girl's back until she loses all of her tension, all of the built-up energy buzzing under her skin and in her muscles. **"Hm, better? Calming down a bit?" **Jade's voice is hopeful - almost desperate.

Cat just nods, stretching her arms up above her head and hugging the nearest pillow under her cheek.

Shifting herself, Jade continues the soft caressing, biting on her lip and closing her eyes, head tilting back as she silently thanks the sky, whatever's up there, for this small merciful moment.

**"'M'so glad we're finally here." **Cat mumbles contently, and Jade finds herself smiling despite the previously stressful situation.

**"Me too, kitten."**

Cat giggles again, and Jade has to still her hands when the girl she's sitting on shifts and turns over enough to look up at her with a knowing grin. **"You only call me that when you want something."**

**"I want you to get a good night's sleep, tonight."**

**"Are you going to help tire me out?"**

The question takes Jade a little off-guard. Sure, she's been thinking about fucking Cat in every room of the apartment since the day they came in with a realtor to check the place out, but she didn't know how the other girl was going to be feeling that first night. It was so _cliche _to 'christen' the place, but the idea had still been stuck in the back of Jade's mind all afternoon. She was impressed with her own self-control at _not _pouncing on the redhead as soon as they separated from hanging out with Andre.

**"I was thinking about it." **she answers honestly, her heart doing a little flip with Cat smiles up at her.

**"Yeah?" **Jade's heart flips again, just at the one word.

Cat doesn't bother answering, instead she just turns over the rest of the way so that she can comfortably lay on her back. Her hands rest on either of Jade's thighs and she bites down on her lip expectantly, eyes flitting over the other girl's body before landing on her face again. Unable to help herself any longer, Jade leans down and kisses her, slow, and soft, and comfortable. This was so worth the fight to get Cat surgically unattached from Sam's hip. It was worth having to push away the thoughts that she would have been doing this with Beck, or Tori. It was worth carrying a million boxes up through an elevator with Andre for hours to get settled. It was worth knowing that Cat would be cranky, waking up the next morning with a caffeine-hangover.

They don't say anything for a long while, movements growing more and more heated without explanation or questions, just perfect understanding of one another.

Jade slides her hands back up beneath the material of Cat's shirt, tracing over the skin she knows is perfectly tan beneath - real tan, her favourite, coming from Cat spending hours at the beach and lounging in the sun whenever she can - mouthing her way down from Cat's lips to her jaw and neck. Her fingertips outline the inward dip just below the jut of her ribs, they hook a perfect loop around the barbell dangling from Cat's navel. The redhead arches her back and gasps sharply, her fingers that had been carding through Jade's hair suddenly locking in to place at the back of her scalp as she fights for a little control over her body's reactions.

Cat pulls the brunette in, suddenly, burying her face in her neck and nuzzling into her, and for a moment it feels way too innocent, too cuddle-like, but _no, okay, her hand is definitely -_

**"Cat." **It's the first either of them has spoken in a while, and Jade feels like her voice doesn't even sound the same, now - it's dampened with arousal and cracked from lack of use.

**"Jade!" **Cat responds, her tone surprisingly mocking as she pulls back a bit to grin at the brunette. Jade finds herself grinning back. This was the perfect way to christen the new place. Whenever Jade had thought about it over the past month, it usually came to mind with wine, sitting in the middle of the floor on a blanket with candles burning and maybe a little bit of music in the background, but this is way better: spaghetti, coffee, and couch sex, soundtracked by the rushing sound of traffic out the window and down on the street below.

The moment of hesitation is what Cat needs, finishing unsnapping the front of Jade's jeans and working them open impatiently with both hands before kissing the girl on top of her again. Jade smiles against Cat's lips, carefree and content, biting down gently as Cat's fingers slip under her waistband and press against her. Her entire body is hit with a shiver, every muscle she knows how to work tensing up a little for a moment in anticipation from that one, light little touch. Cat hesitates the way she always does at first - Jade used to think it was nerves until she badgered the redhead into admitting herself. She'd explained that she couldn't help but stare whenever she got Jade to unwind in front of her… or under her…

Jade's flattered, now, every time.

Just as she's beginning to grow impatient, Cat's fingers twitch, as if jerking to life and finding their slow, gentle rhythm. Except she's just fucking _petting _her, and Jade's growing wetter by the second, wriggling until the jeans are falling down her thighs, only stopped in place by Cat's body between them. Her, _ugh, panties _however, the traitors, are staying perfectly in place despite Cat's hand inside of them, rubbing against her with calculated, torturous movements.

Jade's about ready to say something, to complain, when Cat suddenly dips two fingers inside of her, finding her rhythm immediately. The action is so perfectly timed and smooth that Jade can't help but throw her head back, an appreciative moan growing in the back of her throat but coming out more like a purr.

**"Thought I was supposed to be tiring you out." **Jade manages to croak, when she's finally regained some of her composure after a moment. Cat's grin is nothing but downright coy, her hand suddenly disappearing as she pulls it away and rubs the inside of Jade's thigh, instead.

**"Right, how selfish of me." **the redhead mocks, giggling when Jade nearly collapses onto her in a rush to kiss her.

Jade's hands slide up the sides of Cat's legs, dipping under the flowing bottom of her skirt and hooking into the hips of her panties, nails almost catching in the delicate lace as she hikes them down past the girl's knees. The skirt rides up almost to her waist and Jade pauses to nudge it further out of the way with her forearms before continuing to slide down her underwear. The window is wide open and Jade knows that they're both hesitating because of it. She feels a little thrill when she realizes that they're no longer in Cat's house - this isn't a ground-level view with neighbours, or some pesky little kid that's going to run in without knocking, or Sam coming downstairs when they both thought she was out of the house. This is _their _apartment, and if they want to make love in the couch after dinner, that's just fucking _fine._

_**"Hate these." **_Jade comments, finally getting the underwear off and dangling them off of one finger in front of the redhead. Cat has to look up to try to focus on them for a moment, smirking. They're baby pink and completely lacy and the waistband is threaded with white detail.

**"Shh." **Cat responds, instead of defending her choice. If Jade thinks the garment is offensive _now, _she's going to be miserable when she finds out that the bra she's wearing doesn't even match. **"I love you." **

It's added as such an afterthought that Jade almost doesn't catch it, busy with pushing Cat's skirt up nearly to her chest, the hem of it barely brushing over her lower stomach, now. Looking up at the redhead, eyes closed and head tilted back in anticipation, she smiles. A genuine smile, the one almost no one gets to see.

**"I love you too."**

The words are a precursor to the gasping, high-pitched moans that immediately pour out of the girl under her on the couch as she dips her head down and plants a mess of kisses over her skin, teasing her by letting her tongue dart out and ghost over her outermost lips. In high school, Jade had made a crack about how Cat probably came by moaning whistle-tones. Her well-educated guess hadn't been wrong.

Flattening her tongue against her causes Cat's back to flatten to the couch, the grin on her face genuine as she bites her lip and rolls her hips impatiently, then jolting up when Jade trails her teeth almost warningly over her.

**"Jade." **It's impatient, almost bratty sounding, and Jade has to force herself not to smile, rearranging her features to look serious as she lifts her head.

**"Yes, Cat." **she sighs, as if she was just interrupted in the middle of studying or something.

**"Well **_**don't stop!" **_Cat exclaims, her fingers carding into Jade's hair and trying to pull her back. The brunette laughs as she dives back in, the chuckle vibrating up against the girl and causing her to outright moan as she spreads her legs a little further. Jade doesn't miss a beat as she gently hooks one of Cat's ankles up over her shoulder, angling her a little further down as she continues to work her over.

It doesn't take her long to come, tensing up and clenching her legs against Jade's back with a whine. Her back arches and her muscles nearly turn to stone, her hips rolling in a messy pattern, her tempo skewed and jerky and desperate as she rocks herself over the edge against Jade's tongue. Jade's sort of pissed that she's so busy with taking care of business because in a perfect world she could eat her out and watch her face at the same time. With her eyes closed, and Cat's moaning as the audio aid, though, she can picture it pretty clearly - brows furrowed almost like she's concerned, neck stretched, eyes squeezed shut, lower lip turning white in the center from how hard it's being bitten down on, and…

She doesn't even realize she's still going, and Cat's literally _losing her fucking mind, _twisting away from the brunette in a fit of giggling and broken moans all tangled together.

**"Jade, **_**Jade, **_**stop, I'm done!" **she insists. Lifting her head and gently wiping at her chin with two fingers, Jade grins down at the girl and kisses the inside of her thigh reassuringly.

**"Hm," **she practically hums, feeling simultaneously energized and zen all at once. **"Good girl." **

**"Almost." **Cat grins, tugging her closer and kissing her hungrily. She only pulls away when they're both in serious need of air, smiling when Cat nudges her nose against her own. Jade's not sure where the burst of strength comes from but suddenly she's beneath Cat, looking up at her and squirming pitifully in her half-on, half-off jeans and skewed underwear. She goes to kick the jeans the rest of the way off, but Cat's already moving to lay on top of her legs, looking up at the brunette from between them.

She's already so overly excited and sensitive that she jumps at the first touch, causing Cat to giggle as she hooks a single finger through the center of her underwear, pulling them down slowly. **"Relax." **she teases. If Jade from three years ago could see herself, now, she'd be ashamed. Jade from three years ago that needed to spend hours to get Cat out of her dress, who would lay up with the redhead all night after a scary movie to make sure she got to sleep, who had to constantly reassure Cat that everything was fine - and now it was the redhead having to tell _her _to relax.

**"Holy shit, Cat." **she hadn't even noticed her drawing close, her voice shaking as she lets her head fall back against the nearest cushion with a shaky sigh.

Cat approaches oral sex like making love - it's all small laps and feather-light kisses leading into slow, even-paced work. Jade had always been one for a little more… _aggression _in bed, but Cat's way of doing things drives her up the wall, and she know it has more to do with the _who _than the _what. _

Jade can't stay quiet for long, the slow build-up in movement and speed drawing whimpers from her at first, though they quickly morph into moans as Cat's hands slide up her thighs softly. She can feel herself building up rather quickly, the earlier foreplay shaving a good amount of work off on Cat's end, the smart little _punk. _She knows, _knows, _they're on the same wavelength when she tenses up, rocking closer to the girl and she simply responds by working her lips up higher, flattening her tongue against Jade's clit as she simultaneously slides a single finger inside of her.

Her vision goes white when she cums, her back arching up so hard she's sure she'll have a cramp in the morning. Cat's free hand presses down warningly against her thigh, holding her in place a little to prevent her from rocking and changing the pace, forcing her to just fucking _lay there _while Cat has her way with her. Her entire body is tingling when Cat slowly slides back up her body, pushing her shirt up to kiss her stomach, nipping at her side gently before letting the material fall back into place. The little bite draws a yelp out of her, a jolt hitting her between the legs that she's far too spent to deal with anytime soon. Yeah, Cat and coffee is definitely an alright mix, from here on out, assuming it always goes accordingly.

**"That was amazing." **Cat hums into her neck, flopping on top of her like a rag doll. **"Sleep on the couch?" **she questions, peeking one eye open to look at the brunette.

Jade sighs, knowing they've got to move. **"No, no sleeping on the couch. You've got an early call time. Let's move to the bedr-"**

**"Noooo, Jade. No." **Cat's voice is soft, there's a smile in it that Jade would be able to hear if she wasn't able to see it. **"Sleep on the couch." **she repeats, confirming her own suggestion as she suddenly goes deadweight against the brunette.

The hesitation is killing the redhead, Jade can tell, even as she lays there and pretends to sleep.

**"No. Bed." **Cat grins and nuzzles back into her neck, staying put in her current position. There's another hesitation, before Jade sighs and swings her legs over the edge of the couch, lifting Cat into her lap a little better and then hoisting herself up to her feet, practically hauling the smaller girl over her shoulder like a sack of flour. Managing to somehow keep her balance on shaking legs, Jade carries her down the hallway toward the bedroom, - _their _bedroom, she still can't believe that - with a little pat on her butt.

Setting Cat on the side of the bed, she nudges her to lay back and then begins to undress her, chewing on her lip as she tries to avoid any lingering gazes. Cat needs to get up early, and they're both exhausted, anyway. Still, there's going to need to be a round two - there are still several surfaces, and rooms, and spaces in between, in the apartment that need to be broken in properly.

Perhaps starting with the shower, in the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

Cat always feels a little bit nervous when they call for the Martini at the end of a shooting period. The end of the day always seems to sneak up on her fairly quickly when she's enjoying herself, but there's always that promise of coming in the next morning and seeing the same faces again. Carrying on conversations that were cut short at the end of the work day, or trading books they'd been talking about during their break periods. She'll be getting that complimentary coffee from one of the hairstylists or exchanging workout tips with one of the wardrobe designers - cracking inside jokes with the lighting crew and keeping secrets for her actors. Her problem is that 'networking' is about superficially making all of these little connections that she does - being charming, and sweet, and of course still genuine, but widening her circle with every new project she works on. She can't stop loving every crew and cast that she works with, though, and the end of a shoot, whether it's two days or two months, is always a little heartbreaking.

**"Quiet on set!" **she hears from the green room, immediately biting down on her lip and holding the platemold in her lap perfectly still. These moments are her favourite. When they're doing a quick take, usually a funny line or two - being able to hear the dialogue from the next room over and looking around at all of the faces of the people around her. It's all red cheeks, bitten lips, and wide grins while they try desperately not to laugh at what's going on on-camera, not wanting to ruin a possibly perfect take.

But the script is _hilarious_, and Cat finds herself literally shaking with withheld laughter, eyes squeezed shut as she bends at the waist, her key supervisor next to her gripping her arm in the exact same predicament.

**"Cut!"**

**"Cut on picture!"**

There's an fit of mixed giggling from the greenroom. Cat manages to catch her breath while pulling herself to sit up properly, grinning as the actors return to the green room for a few short moments.

**"How am I lookin'?" **Adam approaches her, smiling weakly at her. She likes Adam. He stays in a good mood for the entire shooting day, despite how _clearly _tired he's getting of the repetitive takes. He's been under hot lights all day and Cat admires his attitude, to say the least.

**"You're absolutely stunning." **Cat promises him as she stands up to meet him. **"Too stunning, in fact. Let me help out a bit." **she rummages in her set bag to find the ziploc labelled _DEREK - _his character - and pulls out the powder-puff, blotting his forehead with it. He dips down a little to meet her height and make it easier for her, smiling at her as she works.

**"Dunno what I'd do without you, Cat." **he compliments, nudging her shoulder as she finishes up and he sidles past her to refill his styrofoam coffee cup. There's shuffling about in the other room for a short while, on the set, and Cat busies herself with the platemold again, scultping out everything she can remember from her most recent rewatch of _The Scissoring _with Jade. She likes the sculpting process quite a bit, actually. She loves how people will stop in front of her as they pass to talk to her about it a bit, asking questions and pointing things out, complimenting her. Jade always mocks her for being able to sculpt and apply the goriest prosthetics known to man without batting an eye - but she won't watch them _on _screen without squirming and getting scared. Cat can't explain it, either.

**"Alright, guys." **The director pokes his head in the doorway and everyone falls quiet. **"We're doing a minute and a half of room tone, so… shut up." **There's nothing menacing in his tone, though, and he cracks a smile at the group of them before retreating back into the small set space. The energy in the room suddenly doubles, Cat can just _feel _it, despite the silence. Everyone is excited. Her heart drops heavily and she tries to concentrate on her sculpt instead, fingers going waxy from the clay. Adam hands her a coffee silently and she accepts, smiling up at him as she takes a small sip. Normally she can't stand black coffee, but she goes through it practically by the litre when she's working on set. They all hear the 'Cut!' from the other room, but no one moves, waiting on the edge of their seats as the director pokes his head back in.

**"… cast is released. It's a wrap." **

The room erupts into cheers - the shoot was over two months, but for a lot of the cast and crew it was a first-time experience. Cat misses them, already.

* * *

**"Home!" **Cat calls happily as she practically skips out of the elevator, beaming as she spots Jade at the kitchen counter. Her hair is piled up messily in some sort of hybrid between a messy bun and a high ponytail, her face clear of makeup. She's slumped over her laptop with a concentrated look on her face, eyes narrowed at the screen in front of her. The drawstring of the hoodie she's wearing is dangling from her mouth and Cat has no choice but to pull it away to kiss her. It's like the brunette didn't even see her come in or hear her greeting, because she jumps a little, snapping out of her momentary hypnosis and slipping one arm around Cat's waist.

**"What did you want to do for dinner?" **Jade asks, and Cat's entire face lights up as if it's some big treat and not a clever ploy to distract from the fact that Jade apparently wasn't prepared at all.

**"We should go out. Celebrate." **Cat says coyly, grinning and swaying from side to side a little as she nibbles on her fingernail.

**"And just what are we celebrating?" **Jade asks, playing right into the little game even though Cat can tell from the look on her face that she already knows the news she's about to share.

**"Set wrap!" **Cat practically squeals, giggling when Jade's other hand slides up to her waist as well, pulling her closer as she turns on the barstool to face the redhead fully.

**"Set wrap, huh? Does this mean you have tomorrow off?" **

That part hadn't even come to mind, yet, and Cat frowns for a moment to think about it, before squealing happily again. Jade winces a little at the decibel level, but humours the girl's good mood and smiles it off. **"Yes! I totally, totally do!" **Cat thumps her hands on either side of Jade's shoulders happily, her grin threatening to split her face.

**"Good." **Jade checks her wrist for a moment, then realizes she's not wearing a watch, and turns to the computer to check the time instead. **"Well, it's only seven o'clock, now. I'll take a shower and we can go somewhere nice." **She stands up, then smirks and kisses the redhead's temple. **"Missed you today." **she mumbles, and then she's gone, vanished into the back of the apartment to get ready.

Cat puts on a pot of coffee while she waits - normally it's a bad idea, for her, but she has no where to be in the morning so staying up all night with Jade has no repercussions. While the Keurig pops and bubbles away, she heads into the bedroom to change her outfit, smiling at the faint muffled sounds of Jade singing in the shower in the adjoining bathroom. She's nearly changed when she's hit with the realization that she recognizes the song, and her heart leaps up into her throat, pounding in her neck and making her feel dizzy. The lyrics aren't there, Jade's just humming and harmonizing this new song, now, a sort of acapella version of something she probably doesn't even recognize on a conscious level. Cat used to do the same thing, she'd start humming a melody without really remembering the song it went to. She's _sure _that's what Jade's doing, because there's no reason she'd be in the shower, getting ready to take Cat out, while singing one of Tori's songs.

Still, she can't help but check. She heads back into the living room, half-dressed, and hunts down the box in the pile that contains her Very Important Stuffed Animals, aka the box she's been hiding Tori's CD in for a month. The lid id still on, which is a good sign, but the CD isn't hidden underneath of the pillow pet she tucked it under and everything runs cold for a minute. She hears the shower shut off and crams it back underneath, slamming the lid on messily and kicking the box roughly back into the pile just in time for Jade to emerge from the bedroom, damp hair pulled around one shoulder, a fluffy black bathrobe cinched around her waist and sliding off of one of her shoulders. Even in her state of panic, Cat has to stop and stare - she looks immaculate.

**"What are you doing?" **Jade half-laughs, half-asks, raising one eyebrow at the rather guilty looking redhead in front of her. Cat's a terrible liar, she knows it, and Jade knows it, and even when she manages to hold her ground for a moment, Jade can be rather persuasive.

**"Nothing, just was looking for the pink high heels, with the white bows on the back?" **She's a little upset with herself for being so smooth. Being a bad liar isn't exactly a favourable trait to have, but she always was quite proud of her own honesty, even if it was only in place because she had no other choice.

**"Oh. I put all of the shoes in the bedroom closet." **Jade explains, turning away without any sign of being suspicious. **"The Ikea guy showed up this afternoon with those cubby-shelf things." **

**"I love you." **Cat abruptly tells her, chewing on her lip and fiddling with her hands in front of her. If Jade had no reason to be suspicious before, she does now. Her eyes narrow a little at the redhead as she turns to look at her again. There's something almost hurt in her stare, like she can tell that it's a cover for something else and she's heartbroken that Cat would ever use it as anything but sacred. Cat's heart breaks a little from the look, but she means it, she _really _means it. It's not even about Tori - okay, no, it's definitely about Tori - but not so directly. Her fear isn't _Jade and Tori, _it's the place that Tori seemed to put her in. Hurt, and cagey, and uncomfortable. Beck had done enough damage on that front, but at least Jade knew she was quite a bit to blame for the crash and burn of that relationship. With Tori it was different - she went in knowing how mean Jade was, and expected something else out of it. Cat knows, deep down, that maybe Jade was difficult, that maybe the relationship was toxic. She knows deep down that she really can't blame Tori for walking away, because it's not like she _owed _Jade anything. On the surface, though, Cat wants her best friend to be safe. She doesn't even need to protect her as her _girlfriend_, she just needs her to know that she's worth fighting through the grumpy mornings or the long periods of not talking. She's worth every not-so-genuine smartass comment when she's in a bad mood.

**"Cat, what are you hi-" **Jade starts to accuse her, but Cat steps forward, pulling Jade to her by hooking her hands around the back of her neck, crashing her lips to hers.

**"No." **she says quietly as she breaks away for a moment. **"No hiding. No reason. I just love you." **she promises.

Jade seems to soften a little, her hands finding Cat's hips to bring her in again.

**"Love you too, kitten." **she promises right back. Cat feels a wave of relief and goes up on her toes to peck the brunette on the lips once more.

**"Coffee's almost ready. Can you grab mine while I get my skirt?" **Cat asks, suddenly very aware of the fact that she's half-naked. She doesn't wait for an answer before she vanishes back into the bedroom again to finish dressing - and apparently check out the new shoe storage in the closet that's just been put in.

When she returns, dressed and ready to go, Jade's already done her makeup in the hallway mirror, and there's a fresh cup of coffee waiting for Cat on the counter.

**"Oh, I forgot to -" **Cat starts, but Jade cuts her off.

**"Three pumps of raspberry and one spoon of skimmed milk." **she smirks knowingly through her reflection at Cat, who lights up and practically chugs the entire mug in a single gulp. Heavenly. **"And I'm ready to go when you are." **

**"Where are we going?" **Cat asks happily as she sets the empty mug in the dishwasher and turns to Jade, already feeling the caffeine tingle through her arms, down to her fingertips.

**"Haven't decided yet. Any ideas?" **she turns to Cat, then immediately holds one finger up, **"No movies." **

Cat giggles at that - the last time they'd attempted the movies she'd ended up in Jade's lap for the entirety of _Sinister _and had nearly deafened the other girl when the brunette tried to tickle her during a particularly frightening part. Granted, that had been entirely Jade's fault, for once.

**"Dinner first." **Cat suggests, smiling and reaching for Jade's hand as she steps closer, using it as leverage to pull her in to the elevator with her.

**"You know what I was thinking about today?" **Jade asks as the door slides shut around them and starts on it's journey down to the lobby.

**"Hm?" **

**"We haven't had a girl's night in a while." **

Cat's heart thumps in her throat again, this time for a much more pleasant reason. _Girl's night _is actually just a code for spending the evening in with movies, pizza, boxed wine, and sweatpants. There's usually a lot of lazy couch sex involved - the kind with giggling, lazy, half-assed foreplay between throwing playful insults at one another, fighting over the last slice of pizza and greasy kisses. It's Cat's favourite - or at least it's on the list. Actually, her whole list is sort of one big 'tie game', because there isn't a kind of sex with Jade she's come across so far that she doesn't love.

**"We haven't." **Cat agrees, glancing up at Jade in her peripherals, managing to keep a straight face for only a moment before grinning and nudging her softly in the side. Jade nudges her back just as the elevator dings open to release them into the lobby. She's practically vibrating as she tries to walk, both from the caffeine and the vague promise of an upcoming girl's night, and to top all of it off, Jade reaches for her hand as they step outside. It's not that she's so anti-PDA that she won't hold her hand, usually, but it's generally Cat that's initiating it.

**"Easy." **Jade chuckles, side-glancing at her as they start to walk. **"Dinner, first."**


	4. Chapter 4

They end up at Wolf Creek, just a short cab-ride away, and by the time they sit down, Jade's beginning to feel cranky. She'd gone most of the day without eating, too absorbed with the computer screen, and it's catching up with her, now. Being mid-week, it's not severely busy and they're seated pretty quickly, Cat immediately diving into the semi-circle booth and scooting around until she's in the dead-center, grinning as Jade climbs in beside her and pulls the menus closer.

**"Ooh, do you want to split edamames first?" **Cat asks, scooting closer into Jade's side and resting her hand softly on her knee under the table as she uses her free hand to flip the menu open. Leaning against her shoulder contently, the brunette frowns a little and glances at her.

**"Since when do you like edamames?" **Getting Cat to eat enough vegetables to keep her safe from scurvy is enough of a struggle, let alone getting her to go for them voluntarily.

**"Shauna got me sort of addicted to them." **Cat tells her casually, chewing on her lip as she scans down the list of potential drinks in front of her, but Jade only leans back further in response and stares at the smaller girl like she's grown a second head.

**"Who the hell is Shauna?" **And why isn't that name even slightly familiar? Like, she gets that she's out for most of the day with work and it's not like Cat isn't allowed to know other people - but really. Since when _does _she know other people?

**"Hm, she's key hair on **_**Cubicles.**_**" **Cat answers, not even looking up. **"Or I guess **_**was **_**key hair would be more appropriate." **she adds, seeming to remember what they're out for in the first place. **"Is that a no on the edamames?" **

Now, she finally looks up, quirking an eyebrow over at Jade before smiling lightly and tilting her head to the side. Jade feels herself soften a little, relaxing some of her muscles she hadn't realized she'd been tensing, letting out a breath she hadn't noticed herself holding.

**"Edamames. Right." **she clears her throat and runs a hand through her hair - finally dry. **"Are you drinking?" **she nods toward the menu in front of her girlfriend, letting the tiny hand rubbing her thigh soothe her back into the cushions of the booth. Jade almost feels guilty for a moment - she's being lazier than Cat is, and Cat's been at work all day, while she's been slumped in front of a computer with bad posture for several hours. No, _no, _she can't afford to think like that - to start feeling like an unmotivated _parasite. _She hasn't had this big of an itch to write in months and she's not going to let it go to waste.

**"I haven't decided, yet." **Cat's voice snaps her out of her inner pep-talk.

**"Well, pick fast." **Jade looks up as their server approaches, sitting up straighter and giving her own drink list a quick scan.

**"Ladies," **the man can't be any older than his mid-twenties, smiling at them with bleached teeth to match his impossibly shiny bleached hair. Rubbing his manicured hands together, he introduces himself and Jade _immediately _forgets his name, not that it matters.

**"Can I start you off with something to drink?" **

Before Jade can even say anything, Cat's cutting her off, fingers squeezing around Jade's knee absentmindedly in her excitement. **"Yeah, can I get a Flirtini?" **the movement surprises Jade enough that she jerks and kicks the underside of the table, wincing a little before clearing her throat and shoving Cat's hand off of her with a little more vehemence than she probably deserves.

**"Tom Collins." **Jade answers before the server can even repeat the question for her. He's gone in a second and Jade quickly reaches under the table for Cat's hand again, bringing it up to rest on top of the menus on the table in front of them. **"Sorry. Surprised me." **she mumbles, brushing her thumb softly over the Cat's knuckles. Cat just giggles in response and turns her body a little, angling herself and dipping her head to rest her forehead against the taller girl's shoulder, muffling her amusement. It hits Jade that the movement hadn't been accidentally.

**"Brat." **she growls quietly into the smaller girl's ear, smiling in spite of herself. **"What do you want to do, tonight?" **she asks, detouring the conversation before things get out of hand.

Cat sits up properly and smiles over at her, shrugging a little as their drinks are brought over quickly. **"Can we also get edamames, to start?" **she requests, twirling the drink in front of her with the tiny cut half-straw sticking out of it. The waiter vanishes and Cat turns her attention back to Jade. **"Will you read to me?"**

Jade frowns a little. She actually loves the idea, or rather, _would _love the idea - if what she was working on currently wasn't so… _dark. _**"I don't really have a lot done." **she admits, cutting the girl off before she can interrupt. **"And it's a bit scary. You'll be up all night." **she insists.

Cat's eyes light up and she pulls her drink closer, taking a long sip from it. **"That's okay, I don't have anywhere to be t- **_**ow, brainfreeze." **_she complains, one hand shooting up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Jade chuckles and reaches over, rubbing the back of her neck softly as she discards her straw and takes a sip of her own drink. Perfectly bitter. **"We'll see how we're both feeling about it later." **Jade deflects, smirking as she watches Cat take another drink as he brainfreeze subsides. If they keep this up for the entire evening, Jade's not going to have to worry about doing much more than stumbling home and flopping into bed facedown with her girlfriend.

They bullshit with one another over their drinks until the appetizer shows up, picking at it together as they wait on their actual food. Jade asks as many questions as she can about how the set was, but Cat's surprisingly quiet and casual about it. It almost feels like Cat's hiding something, and it makes Jade's skin crawl unpleasantly. She's about to outright just ask what the _hell _she's being so shady for, when a familiar voice cuts through their small talk.

**"If it isn't my favourite ladies!"**

**"Robbie!" **Cat squeals, inch-worm squirming out of the booth and hopping up to hug the lanky boy in front of their table, giggling happily as she flings her arms around his neck with little to no regard for the girl standing next to him. The blonde he's with immediately steps back to avoid flailing limbs, clearing her throat disinterestedly and immediately pulling out her phone to amuse herself with.

Jade immediately hates her.

**"Sorry," **Cat unlatches from Robbie and smiles obliviously at the girl, eyes bright and happy and completely unaware. **"I'm Cat. You must be Marina." **Was that her name? Jade hadn't bothered to commit it to memory - Robbie had such a black book going for him, lately, that Jade hasn't bothered putting in the effort with any names or details until she's officially met them.

The girl continues texting for a moment before tucking her phone down a little and finally turning to Cat. **"Hm? Oh, yeah, hi." **she plasters on a smile that Jade can tell is fake, no matter how dim the lounge lighting is. **"I didn't realize anyone was talking to me, sorry." **she shoots a glance up at Robbie, but he isn't paying attention.

Cat doesn't realize it's a jab, and continues. Jade wants to reach over and cover her mouth to put her out of her oblivious misery, but doesn't want to make a scene. **"Oh, don't worry, I do that all of the time! It's sort of loud in here, anyway." **

'Marina' apparently loses interest in the conversation at that point, turning her attention to Jade, instead.

**"Jade," **is Jade's only explanation for herself - a weak excuse for an introduction, but this girl is already rubbing her the wrong way.

**"You're Cat's roomma-"**

**"Girlfriend." **Jade corrects her, not breaking eye contact as she reaches for her drink and takes another sip. She resists the urge to wince at how sharply sour it is on her tongue, this time, not wanting to show any weakness. Marina's bitchface softens immensely as she seems to piece together that Cat isn't exactly a 'threat', but Jade's bitchface is going no where anytime soon.

Their server approaches them and Robbie sidles out of the way to make sure he can set everything on the table, taking that as their hint to leave. It's obvious he's growing more uncomfortable by the minute, anyway, and is grateful for the potential excuse to escape.

**"Ooh, and Robbie, don't forget about the barbeque tomorrow night!" **Cat reminds him, causing Jade to inwardly wince a little. Finding his eyes over the plates on the table, Jade gives him a sharp look, then smiles tensely when he leans over and kisses her temple in dismissal.

**"I'll text you later tonight." **he promises - clearly the two of them are much better with body language than their companions are.

Sinking back into the booth and pulling Cat with her, Jade is _just _beginning to relax, and then the bitch just _has _to go for it, one last little jab.

_**"You kids have fun!~"**_

Jade doesn't realize she's halfway out of her seat until Cat grabs her shoulder and pulls her back into the booth again. What did she even think she was going to do, tackle the girl in the middle of the restaurant? She can feel herself getting more and more high-strung lately, and normally Cat's a good anchor for it, but the incidents of her anger and frustration boiling over and becoming more and more frequent, lately. She's seriously hoping that everything will calm down the more she and Cat get settled into the new place.

**"She seemed nice." **Cat chirps as she grabs her fork, scooping up a few noodles from her Ale Mac & Cheese - her tone is so casual, surprisingly genuine without a hint of sarcasm to it - as if she didn't literally _just _have to physical restrain Jade from jumping her. Scoffing, the brunette shakes her head and then begins a thorough inspection of her salad to ensure that none of the shrimp still have tails attached.

They eat in silence for a few moments, before Cat giggles and looks over at Jade with a grin.

**"Robbie's shirt wasn't buttoned evenly."**

Some things never changed.

Jade tried to roll her eyes and shake the comment off but she found herself grinning, shaking her head and stabbing up a fork full of salad and taking a bite to hide her expression. Cat's way of getting her to cheer up regardless of her mood is sort of uncanny. Cat can't stop giggling, now, though, on a roll, and she actually has to set her fork down to lean against Jade's shoulder from the force of it.

_**"What!" **_Jade almost laughs in disbelief, setting her own fork down to turn and look at the nearly-hysterical girl next to her.

**"You just - looked like - you were -" **she manages to pant out between laughter, **"going to **_**eat her!" **_

**"Pfft, she wasn't even **_**my **_**date." **The innuendo goes right over Cat's head, but Jade wouldn't have it any other way.

Getting herself under control, the redhead sits up on her own and gently brushes the tears of mirth from the corners of her eyes, smiling to herself as she continues to eat.

Jade can feel her own crankiness diminishing by the second from all of the food going into her system - this was exactly what she needed. The server returns to check on them and Jade insists on another round, doing a double take over at Cat before ordering them a quick round of shots as well.

**"Are you trying to get me drunk?" **Cat's trying to sound coy, but that first martini clearly is already hitting her. She pushes her empty dish away softly and turns in the booth completely to face her date, smiling brightly.

**"Trying to g - dude, you inhaled that mac and cheese." **Jade distracts her completely, playing innocent, then gives herself away by grinning, reaching over to rest her hand on the girl's knee. **"For once, our days off are lined up. We should take advantage. Let loose." **

The logic is hard to argue with, not that Cat was planning on putting up a fight anyway, Jade can tell the way her face lights up when each sip of the liquor on the table in front of them.

* * *

**"Jade, don'-" **Cat stumbles, twisting her ankle harmlessly and nearly collapsing into the brunette as they round a corner too quickly, Jade pulling the redhead just a little more aggressively than either of them were stable enough to withstand.

**"Almost there." **Jade practically wheezes, catching herself by grabbing the staircase railing leading up to the doors of their apartment complex's lobby. Cat decides that the outside staircase is the perfect place to give up entirely, clutching onto Jade's arm and promptly burying her face in the taller girl's cleavage. **"No, I - Cat, god, no, seriously, we need to get inside."**

**"No, I like it here." **Cat insists, voice muffled as she speaks _directly _into Jade's bra. The sensations makes the brunette laugh, twisting away a little and _just _managing to key their security code in, tugging them both inside to crash loudly into the mailboxes.

**"We need.. to get.. upstairs. To bed." **Jade pants, hauling herself up and then wiping at her face tiredly. Her hand is smudged with black when she pulls it away and she immediately remembers she still has a full face of makeup on. Here's hoping they're alone in the elevator. She doesn't need their new neighbours seeing them this way.

**"Ooooh!~" **Cat immediately stands upright and grins, but her eyes clearly aren't focusing, her smile crooked as she clumsily reaches for Jade's hand and starts to tug her toward the elevator.

Every movement of theirs is more of a 'controlled running stumble in a given direction' than an actual walk, but they're covering distance, so Jade's going to count it as a win, for now. She tries to focus on the redness appearing on Cat's arms where they'd slammed into the mailboxes on the way in and huffs softly. Cat's a blackout drunk, when it's hard liquor, and she's going to have no idea where the bruises came from in the morning. At this rate, Jade's not sure if she'll remember either.

**"Here!" **Cat practically squeals as they stumble into their apartment. Jade immediately beelines for the bedroom but Cat grabs her arm to stop her. **"No - I." **she stops dead, putting a hand to her mouth and Jade feels completely sober in fear for a moment that she's about to puke. There's a long, terrifying pregnant pause before Cat hiccups, then grins up at Jade and sways from side to side. Jade can't tell if she's trying to be cute, or really can't stand up properly.

**"Wine." **Cat finally insists.

Jade laughs outright, tilting her head back and letting the giggles pour out as she twists out of Cat's grip and starts for the bedroom. No way, no fucking _way _are they cracking open a bottle. She can tell Cat's disappointed, but she follows anyway, slipping her arms around Jade's hips from behind and waddling them both toward the bed like a pair of inebriated penguins. Jade collapses first, laughing when Cat flops directly on top of her, trying to roll her off and climb up onto the bed a little better.

Their movements have turned from waddling inebriated penguins to sprawled, flailing inebriated spiders. Stretching out to try to get a grip on the comforter for leverage, Jade manages to flip Cat off of her and climb under the covers, squirming her way out of her dress with minimal amounts of accidentally slapping herself in the face (Only two, maybe three incidents).

Cat doesn't bother, still in her heels and passed out _cold. _On _Jade's _side of the bed. The brat.

Not wanting to, nor being physically capable of fighting Cat for the spot, Jade stretches out on top of the blankets, instead, and rolls onto her stomach - just in case. Cat immediately nuzzles into her side with a yawn.

For a brief, smug moment, she's vaguely cognizant of the fact that she _did _get out of reading her work. And then, everything goes black.


	5. Chapter 5

Morning comes far too quickly for Cat's liking, peeking her eyes open and frowning into the sunlight pouring through the bedroom window. It's got to be at least eight, or maybe nine already. Rolling over, she peers around for her alarm clock before realizing she must have fallen asleep on the wrong side of the bed. Lifting herself up to turn around she blinks in confusion, pleasantly surprised. Jade is stretched out with a single sheet barely hooked around her hip, facing Cat and sleeping peacefully. She's entirely nude, which Cat would take as a sign of a good night, except she herself is still in her outfit from the night before, high heels included. And she's _covered _in bruises. How did they even get home? The last thing she can remember is Jade ordering them a pair of neon pink shots in curvy little glasses - Pink Panties and Lace - the name sticks out in her mind. Jade doesn't move an inch, despite Cat's squirming around in the bed, now trying to remove her shoes, and she's momentarily thankful that her girlfriend can quite literally sleep through a war. In fact, she actually _has _slept through a war.

There's a peaceful moment where she's ready to roll back over and curl into Jade, and then it hits her - the skull-crushing ache of her headache catching her, the dizziness hitting her so hard she's sure she's about to fall over. Squeezing her eyes shut, Cat dips back down to the bed and buries her face in the pillow, taking slow, even breaths, but everything is spinning and it feels like it's never going to stop. And then, as soon as it started, it stops. Sighing softly, she carefully turns onto her back and stares at the ceiling to wait it out. Reaching down as carefully as she can without moving her head, she pulls off her high heels and lets them drop to the floor from the bed, shimmying out of her skirt as well so that she's just left in her underwear and tank top. Much better.

**"Jade?" **Cat rolls her body, eyes flitting over the brunette beside her after a second. There's no response, so she reaches for her hand and locks their fingers together. Jade shifts in her sleep without fully waking, moving herself to rest her head on the smaller girl's torso before falling back into the deep state of rest she was in before being disturbed.

The sound of her phone buzzing on the nightstand startles her enough to cause her to jump, Jade growling softly in her sleep and wrapping an arm around her torso possessively. Managing to reach over enough to grab it without dislodging her clinger, Cat's eyes widen at the time. Two in the afternoon. _Perfect. _She does her best to sit up with the phone, not wanting to wake Jade. The brunette is cranky enough when she doesn't get to wake on her own terms - with a hangover it's ten times worse.

_What are you doing today? _- 12:00

Cat must have missed that one while sleeping.

_I'm picking you up. I stopped for McDonalds, but I'll be at your place in ten minutes. If you're not awake, I'm going to ring every buzzer until you let me in. _

It's Sam. Cat can't even pretend to be unhappy about the texts, or their entitled assumptions. She just wants McDonalds. Beck forced her and Jade to take potato juice shots once, when hungover, and neither of them have been able to dispute the argument that potatoes are the perfect hangover cure-all since.

_I'll be ready. _

She replies quickly, biting on her lip and glancing around the bed to find something to shove up next to Jade. She doesn't want to wake her up, after all.

After managing to slip a pillow between them, she climbs out of bed and breathes a sigh of relief when Jade simply nuzzles into it and falls right back asleep. Perfect. Wandering out into the main room of the apartment, she finds a pair of jeans, probably Jade's, and a new pair of heels that don't have spilled liquor and dirt from the night before on them. Swiping a baby wipe from the bathroom, she cleans up the smudges of leftover makeup from the night before and rinses with some mouthwash. Sam's seen her at her worst, she's not going to stand there in front of the mirror and apply a full face of makeup when she can hardly stand for too long without getting dizzy. As silly as it sounds, she'll be fine once she's on the back of the motorbike, because at least she'll be sitting down.

Locating the extra helmet in the bottom of the front hall closet, Cat makes her way downstairs and squints irritably into the bright early afternoon sun. Sam is already waiting, motor idling as she snacks on a cheeseburger. Cat practically falls into her out of gratefulness, digging through the bag and locating a box of french fries. She slept through breakfast from the hangover and nearly missed lunch, too, and she hadn't realized until the food was in front of her how hungry she really was.

**"Uh, sure, Cat, take the fries." **Sam greets, blinking at her in confusion, though she doesn't seem too upset about it. **"Good to see you, too."**

**"Hi, Sam." **Cat finally greets, voice muffled over the fries dangling from her mouth. Classy.

**"Rough night?" **the blonde asks, grinning as she takes another bite of her burger and surveys the redhead's generally tired appearance. **"Where's Jade?"**

**"Sleeping." **Cat replies, sighing as she finished the first handful of fries and starts to fish out a second. For a moment, Cat has a fleeting fear that Sam will ask for her to go and wake her. Not only is the idea of forcing Jade awake with a hangover terrifying, but hanging out with both of them at once puts her on edge. It's not like they're bullies, not by any means - at least not with her, but they've both got a sort of mean streak, even a playful one. It's fine, one-on-one, and neither of them really ever means anything by it, but when the two of them are together with her, able to bounce off of one another and double up on the insults, the jabs at her, she feels so… _attacked. _And they always apologize, knowing when they've pushed a little too far and actually hurt her feelings or made her feel left out, but the game of 'how far can we push Cat today' isn't fun, on the receiving end.

**"Well, she's missing out. They're introducing a new flavour down at Freezy Queen. Wanna go?" **Sam seems content with just the two of them, and Cat immediately feels a flood of relief pass over her.

**"Sounds fun. We've got to be back around four, though, we're setting up for the barbecue tonight." **Cat reminds her, pulling on her helmet as Sam crumples up the empty fast food bag and shoves it into one of her saddle bags. **"Are you sure you can't come, tonight?" **

**"Yeah, sorry, I've got that stupid insurance thing." **Sam reminds her, gesturing to the bike beneath the pair of them while Cat climbs on the back. **"Y'know. In order to keep my transportation. Legally."**

Cat smiles, disappointed, but quickly wraps her arms around Sam's waist as she kicks the bike into gear and slowly pulls away from the apartment complex. The buildings and trees blur by as they move into traffic, and Cat can feel the dizziness slowly leaving her system, her head clearing considerably. Damn. Potatoes - total miracles. By the time they reach Freezy Queen, the lineup has reached the parking lot outside. Sam parks the bike and they head over to the crowd to secure a spot to wait.

**"How **_**is **_**the new place, then?" **Sam asks, setting her helmet down on the seat and running her hands through her hair, trying to return it to it's usual shape.

**"You'd have to ask Jade." **Cat jokes in response, mimicking Sam's actions before shaking her head with a little yawn. **"She's been home most of the time, I've hardly been living there, what with work. It's been a hectic few days." **

**"Still going well, then? The whole famous artist thing? Not starving yet, clearly." **Sam smirks and checks her phone before tucking it back into her pocket.

**"Definitely. I've been working pretty much nonstop. I can't really afford to slow down, yet." **Cat admits, almost a bit nervous. She doesn't want to sound like a downer, and she really does love her job - but it was one of the first things she learned at Hollywood Arts in her first ever makeup design class. _'Never turn down a job that doesn't hurt your values.' _The first six calls for adult films that she received were discouraging, but things seemed to be slowly picking up, now. She didn't have any real recognizability, yet, but her pay was steady, which was more than most people in the industry could claim to have.

**"Still doing that SplashFace thing?"**

Cat had nearly forgotten about her channel, until Sam mentioned it. She hadn't touched it since two weeks prior to the move - she'd been too busy with preparation and work. The moment the blonde mentioned it, though, her heart jumped a little. She wanted to be at home in front of the camera recording covers for all two hundred people in her small subscription fanbase.

**"No, I've been way too busy. It was just for fun, anyway. We can't all be Sam Puckett - what about you, **_**still doin' that SplashFace thing?" **_Cat turns the question around, smiling brightly.

**"Eh. Pays the bills." **Sam downplays it, but Cat can see the little smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

They shuffle a bit closer to the door as the line moves. Sam checks her phone yet again.

Cat's hangover is being wiped away by simple sleepiness, now - she knows that, while she slept solidly throughout the night, it was probably fitful. She's never been a heavy sleeper, even sober, though it's not normally a problem when sharing a bed with Jade.

**"I heard your friend Tori is coming back into town soon." **

Cat's headache immediately returns, in a deafening roar. Hands clenched into fists at her sides, she lowers her gaze from Sam's face and glares at the pavement. She's suddenly aware of the tears prickling behind her eyes and she blinks quickly to keep them at bay. It _hurts. _She hasn't felt this way in such a long time that she forgot how easily ideas can cut her to the bone. What the hell is this for? Her mind won't wrap around why she's suddenly so upset - she _knows _Tori is coming home from her tour soon. She's heard Tori's name, over the last few months, without incident. Mild irritation. Maybe some sadness. Never _this. _

**"Oh." **Sam awkwardly crams her hands into her pockets and rocks back and forth a little. She's not good at apologizing, and Cat knows that, so she doesn't expect a heartfelt 'sorry', and a hug. Even if she did, it wasn't Sam's fault. **"Sorry, I just - I thought you guys were sorta friends. We don't have to talk about her."**

**"I don't mind," **Cat lies, looking up and clearing her throat, once she's sure she doesn't look on the verge of tears. **"It's fine, I'm not - "**

It hits her that what's bothering her is hearing the word 'friend' next to 'Tori'.

The line shuffles forward a little more, and Cat forces a little smile onto her face, pulling her hair around her shoulder and fiddling with it impatiently.

**"Do you want to talk about it?" **Sam asks, finally, and Cat can tell she doesn't want to, but she spits it out, anyway. She needs to say _something _to _someone _- or she might literally explode.

**"I just - what if she changes her mind about Jade?" **the redhead nearly yells, her voice going up in volume and pitch as she fights off the hysteria bubbling up inside of her.

**"Cat, I don't think you need to worry about J-"**

**"And what if she hasn't changed her mind at all?" **Cat cuts her off, rambling, now. **"What if she comes back and decides that she made the right decision leaving her? What if **_**Jade **_**changed her mind?" **The tears are back, but she fights to keep them from leaving her eyes. **"What if she wants what she can't have? I can't hold her hand through that! Not again." **the words drop from her mouth and hit the ground as if they were tied to rocks and thrown into the ocean. Sam looks taken aback and Cat immediately wishes she hadn't said anything at all. Those thoughts that she kept tucked away were private for a reason, and the look of 'I wish I hadn't asked' on Sam's face is _exactly _why.

They step inside of the parlour, one leg in, one leg out, an awkward silence falling over them.

**"Do you really think Jade is interested in being with anyone else?" **Sam finally asks, clearing her throat. **"She moved in with you, Cat." **she's reminding her, but Cat's ears are buzzing. She's never felt regret this heavy, before.

**"No, I don't think that." **Cat sighs, rushing the words as she runs her hands through her hair, trying to backtrack. Damage control. **"I'm just - I'm really hungover, I'm not thinking straight. I need some ice cream." **It's a blatant lie, and Sam can probably tell, but for both of their sake, she moves on from it.

**"… Hey. Will you save me a veggie burger from tonight?" **The blonde grins and nudges Cat, causing her to smile softly and nudge back. The effort is what's important to her. Sam can brush it off as hating awkward moments, but Cat knows that deep down she really does care about her well-being. They're best friends for a reason.

Cat's still thinking about Tori, though. Tori, who she desperately wishes she could demonize, but can't. Tori was kind to her when she first transferred to Cat's high school, despite the way that very few students stood up for her. Before Tori understood the dynamic between Cat and Jade, she'd jump to the redhead's defense at the rude comments thrown her way. She'd invite her out on Friday nights and make sure she always had a place at the lunch table. Tori came in to Hollywood Arts as a whirlwind, knocking groups apart and together by ruining the clique system and bringing together complete strangers. She was light, and positive, always choosing to smile instead of frown if her state was neutral. Cat loved her, really, she'd been a great friend for years - even doing her part to mend the pieces of Beck and Jade that had frayed and split over different periods of time. She'd fallen in love with Jade apologetically, resisting for as long as she could - not out of some sort of misplaced loyalty to Beck over Jade, but loyalty to both of them as a single entity, the way Cat never had been. Jade and Cat were all stolen kisses in the janitor's closet and long nights making cupcakes all afternoon and making love in the kitchen. Jade and Tori had been holding hands, sweet goodbye kisses before class and apologetic glances at anyone nearby when the former's hands would wander.

The only two times that Tori ever showed her any sort of unkindness were both related to jealousy. Once, when she quite literally stole Cat's high school boyfriend, Danny. The second time had been when Cat arrived at school on a Tuesday morning, fingers locked with Jade's.

**"Hell-o?" **Sam waves her fingers in front of Cat's face and the redhead snaps out of it almost immediately.

**"Veggie burger. Right. Yes, definitely. I'll tell Beck to make extra." **Cat smiles over at Sam as the pair step up to order their ice cream, finally.

The man at the counter barely has time to hand them the cups before Cat drags Sam back outside, out of the crowd. They'll be able to talk more comfortably, spread their legs, enjoy the sun. At least that's what Cat tells herself, repeating these reasons over and over in her head to drown out the sounds of the opening chords to Tori Vega on the parlour's radio.


	6. Chapter 6

When Jade finally rolls herself over, it's nearly three in the afternoon. With a groan, she sits up and runs her hands through her hair, glancing around in confusion before calling out, **"Cat?" **

Her voice echoes in the empty apartment - the acoustics are pretty great, she has to admit - and she slumps back against the cushiony headboard with a little 'thud'. Well, fuck. Pulling the sheet around herself like a cape, Jade swings her feet over the side of the bed and winces at the shock from the cold floor. Sucking it up and pulling herself to her feet, she's hit with a wave of dizziness, groaning softly under her breath and venturing out into the apartment. There's a small chance that Cat just hadn't heard her, or had been busy, but the redhead isn't exactly known for her quiet demeanour, and Jade's sure she would have heard a sign from her, by now. There's no note on the counter, which really isn't very Cat-like, but Jade chalks it up to the hangover getting in the way and slinks back to the bathroom to shower.

Her first glance in the mirror makes her recoil in disgust - she _definitely _fell asleep in a full on thick-liner-cat-eye-and-smoky-gray-shadow makeup look, and is paying the price, now. She's lucky she's not completely broken out. Her contouring that made her look like Kim Kardashian the night before is now blotchy, making her look like a victim of a bad spray tan. Grabbing a few baby-wipes from the makeup train case on the floor next to the shower, she wipes her face down until the smudges disappear entirely and she's left with nothing to mask the obvious sleepiness. Still, it's an improvement.

She digs into the cupboard under the sink for a moment - there's an opened pack of pads in the back that neither she nor Cat ever uses, which makes it the perfect hiding spot.

Her own copy of Tori's CD isn't signed. Everyone else has a signed copy, and while there's a small part of her that almost feels left out, she knows it's her own doing. She specifically asked Andre not to bring enough copies the last time they all went to see her, not wanting some awkwardly scrawled message in sharpie that didn't mean anything - especially since she knew she'd spend forever mulling over the words and trying to find meaning in nothingness. It's better, this way, pretending she doesn't have a copy at all. The copy she owns could belong to anyone who had wandered into a record store with $23.99 to their name.

Pulling the CD out of the plastic bag in the corner, she swings open the shower door and pops open the waterproof CD player mounted to the wall, placing the disc inside carefully before kicking the sheet out the door of the bathroom and calling out, once more, just to be safe. **"Cat?"**

A beat. No answer.

Deeming it safe, Jade turns the player on, followed by the water, and adjusts the volume accordingly, then steps under the water and lets the steam and loud music wash away the last of her hangover. It's cathartic, the way her skin just opens up in the heat, letting whatever was left from the night before just vanish into the steam.

Jade has the entire album memorized, not that she'd ever admit it out loud. Track one rolls by without much more than an eye roll in response from the brunette, but the second track always makes her stop for a moment. She usually skips her - you'd have to be an idiot to not know that it's blatantly about Jade. She leaves it, this time - she's alone, after all. She can take a moment for her own thoughts.

_"Don't make this worse, you've already gone and got me mad ~"_

Her hands are literally shaking in her effort to not reach over and skip the track. Maybe it's some sick sort of self-punishment that keeps her listening, feeling the melody bubble in the back of her throat, desperately wanting to hum along from the familiarity of the music alone. Closing her eyes against the hot water, she stands still and lets the song finish - it's the shortest on the album, just over two minutes long. Reaching for her shampoo and lathering it into her hair as the CD moves on to the next song, she barely lets the opening notes finish before reaching one soapy hand over to rewind and start track two once again.

_"~ too bad I'm not sad, it's casting over, it's just one of those things, you'll have to get over it."_

She's painfully aware of the fact that there are only three days between the present, and Tori's return, now. In three days, Vega will be back in Los Angeles and there's a very good chance that she could run into her on the street with no warning. There's a good chance any of them could - Andre, the poor fuck, Beck, _Cat - _Jade's blood practically boils at the thought. Whenever Jade tries to bring Tori up, even just to vent, to angrily talk about her behind her back or go off on one of her, 'I knew it' tangents, Cat never wants to hear it. It used to get under Jade's skin like nothing else. More than being upset with Tori, she was upset with how Tori managed to pull Cat in. It felt like she was being ganged up on whenever Cat asked to change the subject, like it was Cat and Tori versus Jade, and she _always _lost that fight.

_"I'm sick and I'm tired of your face ~"_

Slamming the CD player off roughly, Jade finishes the rest of her shower without music, the only sounds being the rushing water, just managing to muffle the whimpering sound of held-back sobs.

Once she's dressed and the CD has been returned to it's rightful hiding place, Jade wanders the apartment for a little bit, opening a few boxes here and there to put some things away while she waits for Cat to return home. There was a missed text on her phone from while she'd been showering, from Cat, explaining that she'd just stepped out with Sam in a hurry and forgot to leave a note, and that she'd be home soon, with ice cream. She finds the box of photos that she'd brought, again, and sets aside the ones that Andre is in, as a reminder to scan and email them to him later on.

There's a photo of her with Tori - a blonde retro wig on her head - Tori's wearing a moustache. She stops, about to set it aside, and tilts her head at it curiously. They'd started dating fairly soon after the photo had been taken, actually. Or rather, fooling around - at least at first. Jade hadn't wanted much more than that at the time. Tori's crush on her had been glaringly obvious from early on, and at first all Jade had wanted was to take advantage of having someone around that thought she was so amazing. The idea that she could give someone butterflies with the right look, the way she could make her squirm with a lingering gaze - it was about power, originally.

Beck had always loved her, but she grew so fucking _bored. _He handled her so well, and while it was fun for a while to have someone to butt heads with, it grew tiresome to never pull a real reaction from him. Tori was so easily offended, and it kept Jade on edge. She found herself apologizing, even when she didn't mean it. It was easy to date Beck - she loved him - dating Tori was difficult. It took an effort that she'd never needed to exert before.

Tossing the photo back into the box, Jade stands up and kicks it aside, heading over to her computer again. She gets a particularly angsty bit of dialogue written out, and is just pulling up SplashFace to look up some music to entertain herself when the apartment door is pushed open.

**"Someone rolled the rock away from the cave, I see." **Cat greets sarcastically, smiling brightly as she sets the motorcycle helmet down on the front hall table, poking her head around the corner into the kitchen. **"I brought you some fries." **she holds up an In-N-Out bag, and Jade's stomach growls at the sight.

**"Where were you two hours ago when I was still hungover?" **Jade smirks, closing the laptop as Cat approaches.

**"Excuse me? Nevermind, then, **_**I'll **_**eat them - you can wait until tonight." **the redhead goes to walk past, but Jade catches her by the waist, hooking one arm around her torso and pulling her back.

**"Not a chance. Hungover or not, I'm still starved."**

**"No one forced you to stay in bed, all day." **Cat reminds her playfully, stretching to hold the bag a little out of her reach when she goes to grab for it.

Jade has a mental map written in perfect detail and graph of every ticklish spot on Cat's body. It's made easier because she _literally _has like two hundred spots, but Jade has honed tormenting her girlfriend down to a delicate science. Grabbing her knees and squeezing there will make the redhead scream. Spidering her fingers up the girl's ribs & under her arms will make her giggle like a five year old, while obnoxious, playfully sloppy kisses across her stomach will make her fall into silent laughter. Jade's particular favourite is the backs of her thighs, which always starts with making her squeal & leap back, though it always evolves into her crawling back for more. It ends with her clambering into Jade's lap and breathing hotly against the taller girl's neck while she drags her fingernails back & forth across the sensitive skin of her legs, only ever interrupting for kisses.

If you asked Jade, she'd put 'tickling' somewhere between 'cold coffee' and 'ducks' on her ever-so-comprehensive list of 'Things I Hate'. Watching overly touchy couples at Cat's school, flirting like children by groping for legs and ribs. She'd seen more than a few people garner serious injuries from attempting to tickle people, as well. She didn't want to take the risk. On top of that, she just hated it. It gave semi-strangers and not-that-close friends the idea that they could just touch her as they pleased - that guys could try to physically flirt with her in bars. Not to mention it forced her into laughing, and she hated her laugh, no matter how many times Cat promised she loved it.

Tickling the ever-loving hell out of Cat was probably one of the most rewarding experiences she could think of, off of the top of her head, though.

**"Jade, wait." **There must be some sort of look on her face that Cat's picking up on, because the redhead is shoving the bag at her, now, laughing and twisting away from the brunette as best she can, before Jade even lays a hand on her.

Jade simply grabs the bag and tosses it haphazardly onto the counter nearest them, her free hand latching on to the girl in her arms as well and proceeding to see out every ticklish spot within convenient reaching distance. Cat's laughter fills the apartment immediately, and Jade knows that if she keeps it up for a moment or two longer, the giggling, squealing fit will turn into genuine, unfiltered laughter. It's her favourite sound in the world, right next to the slicing noise from a brand new pair of high-quality scissors. Wrestling them to the floor, Jade only stops when she has the redhead breathless and giggling in her lap, one of her own legs hiked up and wrapped around the smaller girl's hips to hold her in place, while the rest of her body is propped up on her other thigh.

Being with Cat isn't as easy as it was to be with Beck. Their love isn't epic and spanning various breakups or tragic fits of jealous rage - but it isn't difficult, like it was with Tori. There's an understanding of what Jade is, all of what she is, the good _and _the bad, that Cat seems to take in stride, letting her get away with the rude comments and cranky mornings, but putting her foot down when it gets too rough. Dating Cat isn't some long-winded tragic tale of fighting against the odds, nor is it some quaint coffee shop romance with an indie sountrack and a Wes Anderson aesthetic. What she has with Cat is friendship set on fire. It's a slow build that never fully plateaus, getting heavier and more intense every morning that she wakes up next to her. It's knowing when to stop making fun of her and kiss away and doubt she might have accidentally planted, no matter how harmless her intentions are. It's having someone there when she rolls over crying in the middle of the night for reasons she can't put her finger on. Being with Cat is hungover tickle fights in the kitchen when they should both be getting ready for having their friends over later, or knowing that half of the hour they have before anyone starts showing up is going to be spent cuddling on the couch because they haven't seen one another all day.

**"The ice cream is gonna melt." **Cat says when she finally catches her breath. Her cheeks are red, her hair sticking to her forehead from her flailing and squirming.

**"I love you." **Jade pulls her up a little in order to kiss her, pulling away to brush her hair back for her softly.

**"I love you too." **Cat gives her a megawatt grin, eyes bright and wide as she pulls a lock of hair between both of her hands and fiddles with it almost shyly. Jade gives her a rare, soft smile, then shifts them both to stand up and put the ice cream in the freezer.

**"Is Sam coming, tonight?" **Jade asks as she closes the fridge door and glances over at Cat, who's in the process of unpacking the fries she's brought back.

**"No, some insurance thing. Just me, you, Beck, Andre, and Robbie. And Marina, I guess." **she adds, her tone dropping a little. Jade smirks and shakes her head. She doubts Marina is going to show up - if she doesn't Jade can't decide if she'll be mad or impressed. Maybe a bit of both.

Grabbing a few fries - they're almost cold, now - Jade chews thoughtfully before trying to plan their course of action out.

**"Alright. Well. We have the firepit booked out with the main office, we should take the speakers down there in a little bit." **Jade says, and Cat's already digging in the fridge for the barbecue supplies, making sure they're all bundled together for convenience when they head downstairs. Turning to give the redhead a once over, she notices for the first time that she's wearing her pants. **"And maybe take a shower." **

Cat looks like she's going to be offended, but they both know she smells like vodka, rum, and whatever else they managed to fill up their bar tab with the night before, so she vanishes down the hall, leaving a trail of clothes behind her.

This leaves Jade alone with the remaining fries and her laptop. Speak of the devil - Sam's newest video is trending on the homepage of SplashFace, and Jade immediately clicks on it as she crams a few more fries in her mouth, turning up the volume to muffle the sound of the running water. Halfway through the whopping _nine minute _video about her upcoming appearance at some internet personality convention, Cat returns, in her own clothing this time, damp hair pulled around one shoulder as she pats some lipgloss on with one finger to complete her makeup.

Jade immediately sits upright and pats her crossed legs as an invitation, smiling when Cat grins and clambers up into her lap happily - and then wincing away as she plants a sticky kiss on the bridge of her nose.

**"Ew, Cat - "** she starts to protest, laughing despite herself when the redhead peppers her face with many more equally sticky kisses. She follows Jade down as she flops onto her back. **"**_**Stop!" **_There's no real sternness to her tone, but Cat stops anyway, smiling down at the brunette happily and then leaning down to kiss her properly. Jade is pleasantly surprised to learn that despite it being midsummer, Cat's wearing her pumpkin spice gloss.

**"**_**What **_**has gotten into you, today?" **

**"I'm just happy to have some time off. I feel like I haven't seen a lot of you, lately." **Cat grins, the words tumbling out of her mouth and floating off without a care in the world. **"After tonight, no more benders, though." **she insists, grinning. **"I'm not sure I can keep waking up fully clothed. In my shoes."**

**"Well," **Jade teases, **"Look on the bright side. Most girls can't even make it home without taking off their shoes. You really just go the extra mile." **

**"This is very true." **Cat agrees, smiling softly as she tucks a piece of Jade's hair back softly. The brunette feels her breath catch in her throat - no matter how used to Cat - or anyone - she gets, those subtle reminders of love always make her feel weak. The tiny things Beck would do, wrapping an arm around her in class or playing with her fingers while they listened to a lesson - those were the things she loved the most about him. Even with Tori, the small comments like 'This reminded me of you', or 'Hey, I think you'd like this song' were her favourite things to hear. With Cat, it's little sacrifices, usually. She'll stay up late and watch a scary movie if Jade asks her to, even if she _knows _she won't be able to fall asleep after. She'll bake oatmeal cookies specifically with the white chocolate chips that Jade likes, even though they're almost twice as expensive as the regular semi-sweet.

Cat is incredibly in-tune with knowing when Jade does and does _not _want to be touched. It's a gift she's had since they were kids.

**"Are you drinking tonight?" **Cat asks, snapping Jade out of her momentary hypnosis.

**"Hm. Might have a few. At least I won't need to drag you home, since we'll be here already." **Jade mocks, poking her in the stomach a few times. Cat giggles and gently catches her wrist, pulling it up to kiss her knuckles softly.

**"I don't want to get crazy. I'll be so sick, tomorrow." **she sighs, squirming a little to adjust herself and simultaneously _definitely _starting something that she can't finish. At least not when they have guests arriving within the hour.

**"Cat." **the brunette warns, grabbing Cat's hip with her free hand to steady her, clearing her throat as her cheeks slowly turn pink.

**"What, I - **_**oh." **_she covers her mouth with both hands, giggling into them for a moment. She changes the subject immediately, distracted. **"Sam wants me to save her a veggie burger. Apparently, you make the best." **she smiles. Jade can tell she's trying to fluff up her ego - the best part is that there's no real agenda behind it. Cat just seems to love complimenting her. Jade loves that it's always genuine.

**"That I do. I'm going to try to coerce Beck into doing the grilling, though." **Jade admits her plan, letting her eyes close for a moment. Even with Cat sitting on top of her like she's a part of the couch, she's still so content and relaxed. Her earlier stress is almost all forgotten. It's just her, and Cat - and Sam's voice in the background on the computer screen. Realizing the video is still going, Jade's eyes pop open and she reaches over with a little stretch to pause the video.

**"Jade?" **

The tone makes her pause, turning to look at Cat slowly as she sink back into her place on the couch, resting her head and shoulders on the arm of it to look up at the redhead perched on top of her. Cat slips one leg onto either side of Jade's waist, bringing one hand up to her mouth to chew at her cuticle nervously. She looks vulnerable - Jade knows she's going to hate whatever she's about to ask.

**"Hm." **she grunts in response, almost hoping it'll convince Cat not to ask.

**"We're - we're not gonna talk about Tori coming back, are we?" **

Jade can feel the stress coiling up between her shoulders again, but she ignores it, rolling her neck a little before shaking her head, not meeting Cat's eye.

**"No."**

Cat nods - she gets it. Jade _knows _she gets it. She just can't wrap her head around the idea of holding grudges, but she understands what it means to try to hold one.

**"Alright." **she stretched herself and flops down so that her legs fall between Jade's, laying flat on top of her and smiling softly before kissing her gently. **"Wanna nap until they show up?"**

**"You read my mind." **Jade agrees, forcing a small, weak smile. She slips one arm around Cat's back softly and tucks the other behind her head, nestling into the couch a little more to get comfortable. She's in that weird place between sleepy and awake - she knows she'll relax quite a bit but won't totally fall asleep, unlike Cat who's already almost asleep in her arms. Jade wishes she could just drop her stress the way Cat seemed to. The way she could just change the subject and smile it off and move on without a care in the world. Jade wishes that after hearing Tori's name she could just curl up in Cat's arms and fall asleep the same way. Drawing her nails up and down Cat's back softly through the material of her shirt, she feels the redhead's breathing growing steady, slow against her neck, and she finds herself being lulled into her own sense of calm. Within the hour, she'll be surrounded with friends, and food, and beer. If only she could spend forever that way.


	7. Chapter 7

**"You're not serious!" **Beck cries, voice muffled over the last bite of his third veggie burger.

**"She **_**literally **_**vomited. i didn't think the sample I laid down was **_**that **_**boring, but -"**

Robbie hands Cat a fresh beer as he passes, before sinking into his own chair. There are dirty paper plates piled up on every surface nearby, barbeque sauce stains on the patio that won't come off until they hose it down in the morning, empty beer bottles scattered, all of the ice in the cooler melting down to water. Looking around at all of them laughing and talking, Cat feels more content than she's felt in a while. Everything feels so soft, and fuzzy, and perfect, and oh _god, _she's definitely getting a bit drunk.

But no amount of liquor could cloud her from looking over and grinning at the look on Jade's face. Her eyes are closed, body sprawled out on her lounger with a half-full beer hanging lazily from her fingers by the neck. Cat wonders if she's noticing Tori's absence the way that the rest of them silently are. She wonders if Jade hates her for leaving, or is happy to have the group back to the way it was before she had ever transferred to their school. Beck says something to her and Andre that coerces a laugh out of her, eyes still closed as her shoulders shake a little and she grins easily. Cat wishes she'd be like this all of the time, sometimes. This is her favourite part of drinking with Jade.

Cat struggles with her beer bottle for a moment before Robbie cracks it open for her, handing back and giving her a small smile. She wonders, for a moment, if he's lonely, and immediately feels guilty. He seems to pick up on it, smiling a little more brightly, if only to please her.

**"I could not have picked a better way to spend my Thursday night." **he tells her 'conversationally', taking a sip from his own beer and then letting it dangle between his knees as he rests his forearms on his lap. **"To think, I was going to shower and go to bed." **

**"You did shower, though, right?" **It's Jade's voice, over Cat's shoulder. She's just feeling so damn _good _where she's sitting, though, so instead of jumping or turning around, Cat simply leans back until she's resting against Jade's body, giggling for a reason that she immediately forgets.

Robbie chuckles in response. **"Just for you."**

**"You didn't bring Marina." **Jade notes, one eyebrow raised.

Robbie immediately clears his throat with a shrug. **"I wanted to hang out with you guys." **He sips from his beer and refuses to meet Jade's eye, but it's pretty obvious she's the reason behind it. Cat can see how disheartened he is whenever one of the group doesn't approve of someone he brings around, but he never seems to stay down for long. The fact that he has such a variety to choose from, now seems to soothe the burn that was left when Jade basically gave the thumbs down to the last four.

Jade settles herself onto the cushioned lounger behind Cat, slinking an arm around her waist as she crosses her legs. Cat immediately leans into her, humming under her breath and smiling hazily.

**"Are you liking the new place, so far?" **Robbie asks, conversationally. Jade immediately goes off on a tangent about how the air conditioning cut out while Cat was at work and she nearly melted, and Cat can barely resist the urge to make an 'I'm melting!' wicked witch reference.

**" - and honestly, it gets sort of **_**boring. **_**I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't miss living with my parents, but I need something to entertain me when Cat's at work, until I can lock something down." **Jade concludes.

Robbie takes another sip of his beer as he thinks this over. **"Maybe you could get a -"**

**"Robbie."**

Cat turns around and frowns at the severity in Jade's tone when she cuts the boy off. Cat was sort of curious about his opinion. Get a what? Jade refuses to meet her eye, instead shaking her head 'no' at Robbie over Cat's shoulder.

**"No, tell me!" **The redhead insists, her voice going up nearly an entire octave in frustration.

**"Cat -" **

**"No, I wanna know!" **

**"A pet." **Robbie sighs, from behind her, and she whirls around again to look at him once more. He seems to catch Jade's eye again and winces away in fear, adding quickly, **"Like a **_**fish **_**or something!" **

**"I don't want to get a fish, Robbie." **Jade sighs heavily, and the conversation is over.

Cat bites her lip and grins. The idea is in her head, now, though, a pet, and she can tell by the frustrated look on Jade's face that she knows it. It's going to be a fight, but she's pretty sure she can convince Jade, eventually. She usually does end up getting her way - since her way is often relatively harmless.

Her thoughts of puppies and fish and other pets are interrupted by the opening piano chords coming from the speakers next to the pit. Jade's slowly developed a talent for blocking out the sounds of anything with a tuner or pop feel to it, and Cat feels a little guilty for the startled look on her face when she squeals happily in recognition. Leaping to her feet, the redhead downs as much of her beer as she can before setting down the bottle on the cement patio and twirling happily.

**"I **_**love **_**this song." **she insists, her tone suddenly Very Serious as she pushes Robbie's own bottle down and grabs his hands to pull him to his feet.

**"Apparently we're dancing." **she hears Robbie tell Jade, grinning to herself as she pulls him toward the grass and twirls happily. The sky is every color she loves - it's all yellows, oranges, and pinks. It looks exactly how California _should _look - the way she'd always pictured it before she'd even moved there as a little kid.

_'Let's make this fleeting moment last forever~'_

Robbie indulges Cat and dances with her, grabbing her hands and swaying side to side with her as she twirls and jumps around the music. She announces at least four times that it's her 'favourite song', before the chorus even hits, but Robbie doesn't stop her once, smiling along with her in the almost-drunk state that she can feel herself falling into.

_'I just wanna sink into your crazy laughter, come on, make me feel like the pain don't matter~'_

There's a clinking of beer bottles and Cat turns to see that Beck and Andre have moved into Cat and Robbie's vacated seats around Jade, falling back into their conversation from earlier. Cat almost wishes that they could all just move in. Her alcohol-clouded brain thinks about asking, for a moment before her reality-filter catches her and makes her stop. Even in high school, going home after class was Cat's least-favourite part of the day. It was so easy for her to wake up in the mornings because it meant going to see her friends. School was her absolute favourite, even when things there got rough. She knew it was different for Jade, who, on nights when they had sleepovers, would try almost anything to convince Cat to skip off of the morning with her. They never did - Jade rarely _actually _missed a class, but it was clear that she was often tempted to.

Cat just needed to be surrounded by people - by her friends. She knew that Jade's love of being with only one person at a time was relatively new, though - namely, it had sprung up around the same time Tori had shown up at Hollywood Arts. Jade had always been comfortable being alone with one person, but it hadn't turned into a genuine preference until she was slowly pushed out of the spotlight when they were in a group. Alone, she would open up to someone. In a group, she could flourish as the center of attention - but not if Tori was nearby.

It's not that Cat hates the idea of having Tori around - she'd love if things could ever go back to normal - but 'normal' with Tori isn't like this. Cat wishes she could have all of her friends back - she thinks about it more than she'd like to admit. If things went back to Hollywood Arts, though, there wouldn't be a slightly-buzzed Jade West sitting between Beck and Andre, laughing openly and not being afraid to be _happy. _

Cat wouldn't trade Jade's happiness for anything.


	8. Chapter 8

The remaining day of Cat's time off was spent unpacking the remainder of the apartment, sorting everything out by room and hauling all of the crushed down cardboard down past the lobby to the recycling disposal. Cat's phone went off as they were tossing the last of the boxes away, and Jade quickly checked the time on her own cell.

**"Yes, this is Cat Valentine. Yes. Calabasas." **she nibbles on her thumb nail in anticipation as she waits. Jade dusts the cardboard lint from her hands and raises an eyebrow impatiently as she waits for the redhead. **"Yes, I'll hold." **Cat trills pleasantly, swaying from side to side as she waits, before placing her hand softly over the receiver and stage-whispering to Jade, **"It's the IATSE." **

**"No kidding." **the brunette sighed, double-checking the time once more. It was only 9:30, but now they'd need to crawl straight into bed for the night. At least, Cat would, and Jade didn't feel much like staying up alone.

**"Yes, I'll take the call. 8:30. Got it. Thank you!" **she hung up and took a few quick strides over to Jade, eyes lighting up playfully.

**"What?" **Jade's eyes narrow suspiciously at the girl in front of her, standing dead still with her arms crossed, even as Cat grabs her by the hips excitedly.

**"Did you want to come see me on set tomorrow?"**

The last time Cat had refused to invite Jade to a certain place, it was because she had been hiding a person in her life from Jade. Last time, it had been Sam. Jade wondered if she'd end this by making yet another good friend - Cat's judgement with these things was usually wrong.

Jade wakes up when Cat does, which is rare, rolling over in time to see the redhead sneaking quietly out of the bed to go and hop into the shower and get ready. Jade blindly reaches for her phone to check the time: _5:08 AM. _Oh, ew. It's too early for anyone to even be awake, let alone out of bed and getting ready for a full day of work.

The brunette busies herself by checking Instagram no less than fourteen times, and her twitter another two.

**"You're up awfully early." **Cat says, drying her hair off with a towel as she steps back into the bedroom. She has a big fluffy black towel wrapped around her chest that barely reaches the tops of her thighs, and Jade wants nothing more than to pull her back into bed. Who cares if she'll never work again? Jade can get a second job to support them if it means having Cat like this for a bit longer. **"Did I wake you up?" **she looks worried now, but it's not like Jade to bother with white lies.

**"Yeah. You guys are breaking for lunch around two, right?"**

Cat nods, smiling brightly. **"Give or take a bit, depending on how the shoot goes. I called and had you put on the list last night." **she abruptly drops her towel to the floor and walks into the closet, singing softly under her breath. Jade's eyes travel over her shamelessly until she vanishes into the clothing, feeling much more awake, now.

**"It's an hour drive," **Cat calls from within the closet, causing Jade to glance at the clock on her phone once more, curious. **"I'm just going to grab a granola bar and go, but -" **her voice becomes much clearer as she steps back into the bedroom, fully dressed. **"I'll call you when I'm there setting up and then I'll see you at lunch?"**

Jade's eyes rake up from the bottom of Cat's form slowly. The outfit isn't necessarily anything special - a pair of dark grey leggings and a pretty pink top, but she just wears it so damn well.

**"Sounds like a plan."**

Cat checks her watch and smiles weakly at the brunette. **"I probably have time to sit down and have my coffee before I go." **

Jade feels herself perk up a little - she wants to slap herself for acting like an excited puppy, but she can't help herself. She isn't usually up as early as Cat is, unless it's because she's stayed up for the entire night prior, and even then, she hasn't done that in months. Usually, if she rolls over as Cat is getting ready to leave, the redhead is already in a huge hurry and barely has time for a kiss goodbye before she's rushing off to work. If she ever has time to spend with her girlfriend in the morning, it's because there's a day off involved, and it's usually quite a bit later than six in the morning. It's rare that she gets to see Cat in the morning like this, when the rest of the world hasn't woken up yet. Sliding her legs out of the warm safety of the blankets and over the side of the bed, the brunette uses all of her early-morning strength to haul herself up, following the redhead wordlessly down the hall and into the kitchen.

**"Two sugars." **Jade directs, sliding onto one of the barstools tucked up under the counter, peering over the marble surface at Cat as she switches on the Keurig and goes about selecting a couple of mugs for them out of the cupboard.

**"You really think I don't know that?" **the redhead teases, glancing up from where she's setting up the coffee maker to give Jade a playfully 'hurt' look. She pumps raspberry syrup into the white mug in front of her, before dumping two scoops of sugar into the black one. Jade watches her as she hums to herself, pulling the almond milk out for her own (very _strange) _coffee, and the redhead catches her after a moment, grinning.

**"**_**What**_** are you looking at?" **Jade's favourite thing about Cat is the way she never sounds accusatory, even when she's in a bad mood, or sleepy, or bored, or any other negative emotion that never really seems to stick with her for long.

**"My girlfriend making me coffee before going to work." **Jade smirks a little and rests her chin on her palms, elbows on the countertop. **"This is all very domestic."**

**"We sort of messed up the gender roles, a little, if I'm supposed to be making you coffee." **Cat points out, smiling as she fills the machine with water and sets Jade's mug under it first, hitting the little 'brew' button with a little more finesse than needed.

**"How's that?" **Jade plays along, curious, now.

**"Well if this is all so **_**domestic, **_**as you said, and **_**I'm **_**the one making you coffee, shouldn't it be **_**you **_**going in to work? While I clean, and cook, and I don't know, give birth or something?" **Even as she says it, she's already wiping down the counter with a nearby cloth, tossing it into the sink casually.

Jade outright laughs, and it seems to startle Cat, though she grins nonetheless. She's so much smarter than anyone gives her credit for.

**"This is very true. Should you quit your job, then?" **Jade teases, feeling herself relax into the uncomfortable bar chair a little more when the scent of fresh hot coffee fills the air. Her mug fills to the brim and the sugar dissolves almost immediately as Cat swings around to pass the mug to Jade, setting her own up next.

**"Yeah, right." **Cat smirks, hitting 'brew' again once the cup is replaced, glancing back over her shoulder at Jade playfully.

**"I think you'd make a good stay-at-home wife." **Jade continues, prodding at her verbally. She's not sure if she's trying to get a rise out of her or make her laugh. She's making it up as she goes along. **"Unless you were cooking. There needs to be a home to come **_**home **_**to, after all, not a pile of ash and rubble." **

Cat gasps playfully and swats at Jade's arm uselessly. **"That was once! And I didn't burn the house down, I just… lit a few dishrags on fire. Cooking is difficult, alright?"**

**"Cat, you were making popcorn!" **Jade practically crows, leaning forward on her stool as she laughs before taking a sip of her coffee. The sugar has melted perfectly and it's still warm enough to burn the tip of her tongue when she drinks too quickly. Perfect.

**"Microwaves are complicated!" **Cat insists.

**"Apparently!" **Jade mocks, smirking as she takes another sip of her own coffee. Cat's mug is filled suddenly and she grabs it, beginning to pout. Jade pumps the breaks immediately. **"I'm kidding. And don't drink that, yet, it'll be too hot." **her tone is bossy, and she can hear it as the words leave her mouth, but Cat is either too used to it to notice or it doesn't bother her, because she sets the mug down again without hesitation, smiling.

**"Thank you, Jade." **she busies herself with emptying the little k-cup from the machine, turning her back to the brunette once again.

Watching the redhead busy herself with small useless tasks as she waits for her coffee to cool, Jade brings her own mug to her face again and takes a moment to inhale. There needs to be more mornings like this, Jade thinks. In fact, if she didn't need her sleep so badly, she'd probably make a conscious effort to get out of bed with Cat in the morning so that they could make a routine of this.

Cat's phone goes off in the living room with a twinkling little fairy-like sound effect she'd downloaded earlier that month, and the redhead immediately responds to it with, **"La-dee-da-dee-da," **in near-perfect imitation, before scampering off to answer it. Jade learned early on not to bother calling attention to the imitations the redhead makes. She can do some incredibly impressions when she puts her mind to it, but this little tick of hers is entirely subconscious. She's usually confused when Jade brings it up - she has no idea she even does it.

When she's gone longer than a few minutes, Jade frowns, sliding her chair back from the counter and setting down her mug to head into the other room. She's met in the open entry way to the living room by Cat nearly smacking dead into her, herding her back toward the kitchen, phone clutched in both hands.

**"Who was it?" **Jade asks, curious from the other girl's reaction.

**'No one!" **Cat exclaims, a little too quickly, eyes widening as she peers up at the brunette pathetically. Jade doesn't even have to change her expression before Cat's guilty conscience comes into play and she starts babbling. **"I just - set coordinator - says we're going to be in the mud and to bring extra shoes - and - and that's all." **

Well that's _clearly _not all - Jade can tell from her tone that the information she _is _giving up is true, it's just not all of it.

**"And that's all?" **Jade repeats, trying not to smirk as she crosses her arms. Cat brushes past her, trying to sound haughty.

**"Yes, don't you have coffee to be drinking?"**

If the secret was harmful, or serious, she would have given it up immediately, so Jade chalks this up as 'unimportant' and let's the half-truth slide. For the time being. She'll prod at the other girl for more answers later on, when the coffee has had time to sink in and she visits Cat on set.

Cat picks up her own coffee and takes a tentative little sip to check the temperature, before deeming it safe and taking a much larger gulp. She may be a morning person, but that really only affects her mood, not her ability to stay awake. Jade has found her half-asleep with her face pressed against the medicine cabinet mirror in the middle of brushing her teeth once or twice. She checks her phone again and frowns, and Jade immediately knows what's coming next.

**"I should go-" **she starts, and Jade almost cuts her off.

**"I know." **She doesn't mean for it to sound cold, or anything, but it's hard not to be disappointed that it's time for her to leave, already. If Jade had just slept in a bit like she normally did, she wouldn't have had to wait nearly as long to see Cat again at her lunch hour. Now she has the entire morning to kill, alone. It'll help, giving her time to write a bit with no distractions, but still. She wants to stay in the kitchen drinking coffee and talking with her girlfriend and pretending there are no real responsibilities that either of them need to face.

Cat smiles softly and finishes her coffee in one more big gulp, sets the mug in the sink and turns to Jade with a grin.

Jade's about to ask what the look is for, but Cat makes it known.

**"Jade, you're pouting."**

She can feel the blush heating up her cheeks, a reaction that only Cat can get out of her, now.

**"And blushi-"**

**"Shutup, shh, no, quiet, now." **Jade pulls her in by the hips and kisses her quickly, to shut her up, mostly, but finds herself smiling in return to the feeling of Cat's lips curling up against her own. When she breaks away, the redhead giggles up at her.

**"I love you." **she promises, and Jade feels her heart warm up just from the words alone. It's sappy as hell and she hates herself for it, but hearing that makes her so happy, no matter how many times she does. It never gets old.

**"I love you too." **the brunette promises, before Cat steps into her shoes and vanishes around the corner. Jade waits until she hears the elevator door close behind her, then sighs and set the machine up to make herself another cup of coffee. She's up now, and she may as well write. _After_ she gets a little more caffeine in her system.

It's not until Jade is three hours in with only five hundred words written that she decides she may need a bit of a break. She has no muse for the scene she's working on, and she's tried jumping around to other parts, but she can't find her interest anywhere in the screenplay. As opposed to her usual writing problem of having too much going on in her head, she's just blank, right now. There's nothing - no inspiration, no characters speaking to her, she's just so uninterested. She's really only writing because she feels like she _should, _and maybe she's right, but that doesn't change the fact that she really _can't. _Not right now.

She's on her fourth cup of coffee, now, and it's going cold, sitting beside the laptop that she's so furious with, as if it's the PearBook's fault that she can't get any decent smut written. She's going for something fresh with this particular horror, hoping to have the lovescene follow a brutal murder instead of taking place before (or during) the act. It's gritty, messy, and dark. At least, it's planned out that way in her head, but she can't get it onto the screen in front of her that way. She's been listening to the same song on repeat in the background, trying to get more into it. It's the song she's chosen to play during said scene, even though she knows that if this screenplay ever gets put in production, she's not going to get to have the final say in the soundtracking.

_"I put a spell on you, lord, lord, lord, 'cause you're mine ~"_

Marilyn Manson's voice grows more and more aggressive, desperately trying to convey how distraught he is through this particular cover. It's one of Jade's favourites.

_Alright, West, get it done. _She thinks to herself, cracking her knuckles before diving in to write another line of the dialogue.

**EXT. CABIN BACK DECK - NIGHT**

**CARINA stands on the deck, overlooking the lake. JACOB appears behind her, startling her.**

**CARINA**

** Jake, what the **_**hell **_**are you doing here?**

** You scared the shit out of me. Don't do that!**

** She crosses her arms tightly, glaring. Jacob laughs, and shakes his head at her as he approaches.**

**JACOB**

_**I **_**scared **_**you? **_

** He steps even closer, reaching out and grabbing her by the waist, pulling her flush against him. She doesn't protest.**

**CARINA**

** Where is**

Jade leaves it off, there, glaring at the screen again. It doesn't feel right, at all. The story is there, she has it in her mind. The scenes play out perfectly, mentally, but she just can't make it work on the screen in front of her. She chalks it up to not having any inspiration, and pretends that this isn't a common occurrence as she switches off the music and shuts the PearBook defeatedly. Her coffee is ice cold, now, and the fridge is beginning to dwindle as far as provisions go, so she decides to step out and run errands to kill a bit of time before it's time to head down to the set.

There's a grocery store a few blocks past the apartment complex that Jade's been meaning to check out, so she changes out of her pajamas and heads down the elevator, slinging her purse up over her shoulder as she heads out into the street.

Luckily, it's not busy in the slightest, which she definitely appreciates - probably because it's still quite early, barely noon, now, and everyone is either at work, or school. She grabs a basket instead of a cart, not wanting to tempt herself into buying more than she can carry home comfortably, though she begins to regret her decision to walk once she realizes how warm it is outside. The little grocery store is air-conditioned beautifully, though, and she immediately feels her growing bad mood from the heat vanish when she steps inside.

Her basket is half full of cake mix and pasta when she passes the magazine aisle and spots Andre, heading down with a smirk.

**"Hey, stranger."**

He looks up in surprise, and his face breaks into a grin.

**"Hey yourself."**

**"What are you doing in Calabasas, exactly?" **she doesn't mean to sound so suspicious, but she can't help the way her tone comes out. Calabasas isn't exactly a long journey from Andre's place, but it's not exactly just 'in the neighbourhood' territory for him, either.

He gives her a look like he's trying to think something up, and she smirks, shaking her head. Her suspicious tone hadn't been out of line at all.

**"… Cat mentioned that I could stop by while she was at work, y'know, poke you with a stick, bring you some coffee." **he shuffles on the spot, rubbing his hands together with an almost bashful look. **"She sorta worries you're going to go stircrazy from being cooped up inside all day. Clearly, she had nothing to be worried about. Look at you, all domestic housewife, doing the grocery shopping." **he nudges her softly, trying to lighten her up a little. She can't help but smile a bit in response, shaking her head.

**"I've just been writing. She makes it sound like I'm a Netflix addict that doesn't leave the couch."**

**"Hey, it's only…" **he looked at his watch, smirking, **"Nine-thirty. There's plenty of time for you to get back to a marathon of **_**Orange is the New Black**_**."**

That gets a laugh out of her, switching her basket to her other arm before shaking her head at sighing, **"Well, you're here now. Did you want to come back with me, have late breakfast?" **she asks, raising an eyebrow. She's not sure what sparks the offer, but she always has enjoyed Andre's company. He's easy to be around.

**"Definitely. **_**But," **_he glances at her basket, **"There's no way you're making me pasta and red velvet cupcakes for breakfast. We'll drop off your groceries and go out. There's a pancake house nearby and I am **_**craving **_**a plate of bacon." **he rubs his stomach as he speaks, licking his lips.

**"Fair deal." **Jade agrees, the pair of them turning and heading toward the self-checkouts. (Jade's preference - the less interaction with minimum wage, artificially sweet till workers she has to have, the better)The pair of them drop the groceries off at Jade and Cat's apartment, and then Andre drives them to the pancake house he was waxing poetic about for the entire drive back from the store.

**"But honestly, I wish I could soundtrack my own scripts. It's really not my department but sometimes I feel like the music is just as important as whatever I'm writing as the dialogue is." **Jade is saying, over the plate of french toast in front of her.

Andre stabs up another piece of breakfast sausage, eying it before taking a bite and nodding slowly at the girl across from him's words.

**"So you **_**are **_**getting some stuff done, then?" **he asks, careful not to talk over his food. Jade hates it, and he knows it.

His question takes her off guard a little. She sort of preferred when people just _assumed _that her being inside writing all day meant she was producing a lot of work, instead of the painful truth that a lot of time spent didn't exactly mean a lot of writing produced. She guiltily cuts one of the pieces of syrup-soaked toast into small, bite-sized pieces, avoiding Andre's eye as she feeds him her usual line.

**"I mean, writing is such a process, y'know, so I -"**

He cuts her off, a bold move.

**"So, no, then." **

She looks up at him, and he's tense, like he expects her to attack him - which normally, she might have, but now she just looks defeated. She sees a flicker of something - pity? - in his eyes, and immediately hardens her glare. She'd rather him think of her as a hasbeen than a charity case.

**"No, not really." **she says, almost sharply, stabbing up a little piece of toast and popping it in her mouth. She uses the back of her hand holding the fork to cover her face, speaking over her food. It's only okay when she does it. **"But the story is there. Just having trouble getting the motivation to write it out. It doesn't want to come out properly."**

Andre's face changes back to encouraging, and Jade feels a rush of relief hit her. **"Awh, well, you'll get something. If anyone can knock out a screenplay, it'll be you." **he insists, grinning and taking a piece of bacon from his plate, popping it in his mouth.

**"I hope you're right, honestly." **Jade sighs, flagging down a waitress to grab their cheque.

**"I got this." **Andre tells her quickly, grabbing it before she can protest.

**"Andre, I'm 'not working', not 'on limited budget'. It's fine." **She sighs. She hates this weird, helpless feeling of people fucking _pitying _her. It makes her feel, to use Cat's choice word, _icky._

**"I know that. You're going to get the bar tab when we head out tomorrow night." **Andre replies somewhat curtly.

This is what Jade's always loved about him. He was definitely terrified of her since they'd first met - elementary school - but he didn't take her anger too seriously, most days. Some of the time, he'd wince away if she grew aggressive, but it was usually his job to just stare her down with a _'Really, Jade?' _which was usually enough to remind her of how ridiculous she was being. He also included her, even when he was scared of what she might do if she came along. He was always inviting her out with the group, asking her to work on music with him or partner up for a class project. They'd been friends long before he'd ever met Tori - and while Jade knew, no, _accepted, _that he'd always be closer with Tori, she appreciated that he never stopped being her friend. He and Tori just… clicked. Jade had actually thought he was trying to get it, for a while there, but the two of them had proven that apparently it _was _totally possible to be _that _close with another attractive person within your sexual preference spectrum and not want to step further. Looking back on Beck, Cat, and Tori, Jade wasn't sure she'd ever known what that was like. Every one of those close friendships for her had turned into something different.

**"I didn't realize we were going out." **she smirks, looking up at Andre with an amused sort of look. It always sort of surprised her into obedience when he just laid down the law like that, because it was so rare. Jade supposed that was exactly what he was going for.

**"We are now." **Andre stands up from the booth, waiting for Jade as well before heading to the front counter to pay their bill. **"You're going to write four-thousand words tomorrow, and then I'm going to take you out and buy you as many drinks as you decide that you want." **he tells her, smiling a little.

That's a deal she can't pass up, and he knows it.

**"Fine." **she replies, still acting as if it's a hardship.

**"But for now, I'm driving you home so you can make Cat a nutella and banana wrap. You've got a set to visit."**


	9. Chapter 9

Cat makes friends the moment she arrives on the location. Tugging the black train kit behind her, she enjoys the reassurance 'clack-clack' of the wheels going over each crack in the sidewalk, the breeze from her movements sweeping her hair back from her shoulders with a little bounce to go with each step. The security guard lets her past the first tent after he scans her card and directs her toward the 'greenroom', smiling at her. He wasn't smiling before she arrived - and didn't seem like the type to be overly friendly, either, but sometimes she just had that sort of effect on people.

Once her kit it stationed on the little plate of hardwood that's been tossed onto the grass inside one of the tents, she hunts down the set coordinator and checks in, before being told that she has enough time to grab a coffee and donut before her actress arrives. She immediately beelines for craft services - the granola bar that she inhaled on the way over didn't nearly do enough for her. With a swell of excitement, she realizes there are still donuts with sprinkles available. It's never too early for sugar.

She nabs one quickly with a napkin and is just beginning to go about pouring herself a coffee when a voice next to her pipes up, **"Ooh, you got the last one with sprinkles." **

Looking up quickly, Cat beams innocently at the woman in front of her, taken aback at the similarities, for a moment. Her hair is a nearly identical shade to Cat's own, pulled back from her face and rolled up at the side, her fringe curling outward as it cascades down the left side of her face. _Like a mermaid, _Cat thinks.

**"We can split it." **Cat insists, awkwardly holding the napkin around the donut and carefully tearing it in half before the other woman can protest.

**"And now you're my new best friend." **She tells her. **"I'm Anna." **

**"Cat." **Cat holds out her donut-free hand to the other woman, who mirrors her action. They shake, and then simultaneously take bites of their respective donut-halves. Cat giggles, first, followed shortly after by Anna doing the same, and soon enough, they're both bent at the waist in fits of laughter, desperately trying not to spit donut crumbs.

**"Oh, that might be us." **Anna manages to say as she straightens up, glancing at something over Cat's shoulder. The shorter of the two whirls around to see what she means, and catches sight of what appears to be the leading lady heading into the hair and makeup tent. Nabbing a bottle of water, she speed-walks across the grass toward the tent, arriving just as her actress is settling into the folding chair that someone must have set up while she was eating, and the girl wastes _no _time getting to the point.

**"Hi, so, there's this primer from MAC that they **_**insisted **_**on using last time and I swear to God, like, **_**ninety **_**percent of my skin peeled off. I'm lucky I'm not sitting here all raw muscle and bone. I think it was by MAC, at least. Did you know they were founded in Canada? This entire time I thought that the only exports from up there were Justin Bieber and like, **_**bacon.**_**"**

Cat stares at her blankly for a long moment, trying to process all of the information she's being given at once.

**"I - the primer I use is from Ben Nye." **she replies, managing to react to at least _one _of the six hundred bullet points she's just been given. She feels like she just ran a marathon from _listening _to this girl. Regardless, though, Cat likes her, immediately.

**"Nice." **she responds, a little too enthusiastically. Cat does a subtle double-take at the name taped to her mirror: Amara. _Pretty, _Cat thinks, contently, flicking on the nearest light and bending down to unlock her kit. The natural light that's flooding into the wall-less tent will be perfect for applying in, so the redhead is already in a good mood to start the day. The coffee with Jade and free donut upon arriving certainly helped - the sun beaming down on them to provide perfect lighting _and _a dose of Vitamin D is just the icing on the cake.

Anna bustles in as Cat's in the process of matching Amara's foundation for her, dragging along a small powerbox and setting it down at her own chair with a heavy sigh.

**"This is the only thing wrong with outdoor shoots." **she explains, exasperated and practically out of breath. **"The sun is nice, though." **she adds.

Cat grins over at her and quickly lines up her brush canisters, taking the lids off of them one-by-one, rapidfire, and tossing them messily into the top of her kit. She'll sort it out, later, when there isn't a leading lady sitting in front of her, waiting. **"The lighting is great. For makeup, at least." **Cat insists.

While Amara is busy cooing over the massive colorful palettes and 'so, super soft' makeup brushes, Cat double-checks her continuity notes that were emailed to her the evening before, scrolling through them on her phone thoughtfully. None of it seems too complicated, but picking up someone else's work is always a bit nerve-wracking.

Anna seems to be thinking something similar, saying from the other end of the tent, **"So, what was up with the last team? Time-contract, or…?"**

Amara turns in her chair a little as Cat puts her phone down carefully, balancing it up against the mirror to keep one eye on the photos.

**"Location, location, location." **Amara drawls. Cat isn't complaining - it landed her a job, after all.

Returning to the mixing palette, Cat drums up the right shade and selects a brush, going about her application. She allows herself to zone out, listening with one ear to what Amara has to say, about, well, _everything, _while listening for directions from outside the tent, not wanting to miss anything important. This is her second favourite part of the job - the actual job itself. She can shut everything out and concentrate on her art - and it truly _is _art, the way she can match tones perfectly and cancel out anything she doesn't want to see, making it as invisible to the rest of the world as it is in her mind when she pictures perfection.

Amara has moved on to asking questions, now, and as usual, Cat forgets to gloss over the basics. **"So, do you have a boyfriend?"**

**"Hm? Oh, no, I live with my girlfriend, Jade." **

When they were being prepared for school, there had been a few things that they were told not to discuss, under any circumstances, at work: Religion, sports, and politics.

The thing was, Cat's parents didn't raise them under anything specific - a few references here and there to praying, they went to the Christmas service each year at the cathedral closest to their house - and Jade was blatantly, _aggressively _anti-religion. She'd never realized that her relationship with Jade even _was _'religious' or 'political' until someone had yelled at them in the street walking home from classes one afternoon. She didn't understand it - no part of her was trying to hurt anyone. Sometimes someone's feelings got hurt, like Beck, or Tori, or even Robbie - but they'd moved past that, already. Sometimes, Cat's feelings got hurt - but Jade usually smoothed it over with kisses and apologies and french fries. Perhaps she didn't have a specific 'religion', or maybe she didn't go to church with her parents, anymore, but she knew about love, and kindness, when she was staying up late after watching something frightening, and no matter how sleepy Jade was, she'd still keep her eyes open until Cat finally closed hers - just to watch out for the monsters.

**"Oh, my **_**god, **_**I'm **_**soooo **_**sorry." **Amara practically squeals, the look on her face appearing completely mortified. **"I totally shouldn't have just **_**assumed, **_**right?"**

**"It's really not a big de- " **Cat starts to say, before Amara cuts her off again.

**"No, no, but oh my god, that's so cute!" **Cat hears Anna chuckling under her breath in the corner, and she resists the urge to roll her eyes. Where did that come from? Jade, probably. Cat always thought that it was sweet, being complimented. Who didn't like compliments? It wasn't until Jade sat her down and explained that it was only 'cute' because it was supposedly abnormal. It might not have been Jade's intention, but Cat found it tough to accept _any _compliments at face value, after that. **"That's like, **_**so **_**good for you guys." **Amara concludes. Cat hadn't even been aware she was still talking, but she forces a little polite smile and continues blending out her foundation.

Now Amara is all about questions, no longer interested in talking about herself. It makes Cat feel fidgety - she was always taught to listen, on set, not talk. To always turn a question about herself around to the actor instead, make them feel like it was _their _time.

**"When did you guys meet?"**

**"Uhm, we've been friends since the sixth grade." **Cat tries to sound casual, like she really needed to think about the answer. Everything she knows about Jade is in the front of her mind, though, always. It's always been that way - ever since the sixth grade.

**"Did you, like, **_**know?" **_

Cat furrows her brow in concentration as she double-wields both a foundation brush and a blending sponge, perfecting the edge along her left temple. She has a delayed reaction to answering, setting the brush down and then turning to mix some contour shade before she remembers she was asked anything.

**"Know what?" **she perks up, turning to Amara, now, as Anna fiddles with adjusting the speakers to play music from her phone in the background.

**"Y'know…" **Amara trails off, as if embarrassed, **"That you - y'know."**

Cat stares blankly back at her. She has an inkling of an idea what the girl is asking her, but watching her squirm feels strangely vindicating. It's so out-of-character for her, though, that she recoils at her own meanness. Would Jade be impressed? And was that a good thing?

**"She's asking about you liking girls." **Anna saves the girl the 'embarrassment', approaching with a belt of brushes and combs.

**"Oh." **Cat beams, giggling, and then goes back to mixing her contour. It's almost a full minute later when she realizes that she still hasn't answered, but by now Amara has moved on to other questions, speaking mostly to Anna now about what sort of product they're going to use, her instructions for extensions, and the like.

Cat can't shake the weird, uncomfortable feeling that passes over her, though. It's the same feeling she gets when people make backhanded compliments towards her, or say condescending things in a way that they think she won't notice (she _always _does).

The remainder of the hour passes by uneventfully, which was fine by Cat - Anna kept Amara busy as far as conversation went, which made it easy for her to get back into the 'zone' and concentrate on her work. There was a momentary issue with the lashes - 'I swear, I reminded the last girl like six times to put my latex allergy in the notes, I knew she wasn't going to!' - but with a quick dart across the road to the drugstore nearby for latex-free glue, Cat was able to avoid any serious tragedies on her first day.

When they're finally called to set, Cat realizes she has no platemolds with her. The realization hits her like a wave of stifling heat. _Boredom. _Her worst nightmare. Somewhat grumpily, she hauls herself off to set with her touch-up bag, settling in beside Anna to watch the shoot.

Luckily, the scene involves eating food - the leading lady sitting alone on a picnic blanket underneath of a large tree - so Cat is kept busy with touch-ups on her lipstick after each shot. It keeps her busy for the majority of the morning until they bring in the lead male, who situates himself at craft services to wait for whichever intern is in charge of running the hot meals for them. The morning goes by fairly quickly, and it's not until Anna invites her to grab a sandwich across the street that she remembers _Jade. _

**"Actually, my girlfriend is coming down. I should text and let her know we're about ready." **

Anna's face lights up, and she laughs, **"Don't let you-know-who see you together, might have a conniption. You sure you don't want an overpriced sandwich?" **she asks, on her way out of the tent.

**"No, I'll still be here when you get back, though, we can eat together." **Cat insists, plucking up the little bottle of brush cleaner on her stand and spritzing some into the palm of her hand, swirling a few eyeshadow smudgers into it.

**"Right, well, text me if you need an escape route from Ms. Nosy." **Anna insists. **"I'll only be a few minutes, depending on the line. My number's on the stand." **

With that, she vanishes out from under the tent, stepping into the blindingly bright sunlight.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I'm seriously sorry that this took so long. I was moving to a different province, and all of that good, fun stuff, family emergency after emergency... it's been a big few months. BUT! I'm happy to post this now, even though it's probably not a very exciting 'sorry I suck at updating' gift.

* * *

When Jade finally arrives at set, and is directed to the 'green room' by one of the security guards, it's only a few minutes until Cat said she'd be scheduled to break. She knows exactly where Cat is, despite the record-breaking _four other girls _with red velvet colored hair parading around the green room, by her laugh. The 'green room', apparently, is an open tent with a single light set up beside a folding cast chair, cameras set up around a large nearby tree, clustered in tight around a boy and girl sitting on a cliche checkered blanket. Jade can only assume that it's the leading actors, but she doesn't recognize either of them.

**"I'm serious!" **a girl with hair as red as Cat's says, steam-straightening a set of blonde extensions clipped to a mannequin. **"I wish **_**I **_**had a girlfriend to bring me lunch instead of having to spend fourteen bucks a day for a fuckin' sandwich."**

Jade approaches slowly, sauntering up with one raised eyebrow. Cat's back is still turned, swirling the end of a contouring brush into the soap mixture in the palm of her hand.

**"Yeah, well, Jade's only ever on the other half of a set, I figured it would be cool to have her come see me, y'kn-"**

Jade chooses then to interrupt, one arm slinking around Cat's waist and abruptly pulling her back against her chest. The other redhead, whom Jade can only assume is keying hair, looks up sharply in response to Cat's squealing little giggles. She whirls around in Jade's arms to grin up at her and the brunette feels totally lost for a moment, unable to keep the smirk off of her face as Cat realizes who it is, squealing again and flinging her arm around her as if they hadn't just seen one another seven hours earlier.

**"Speak of the devil?" **Key Hair asks, quirking one perfectly shaped and filled eyebrow before nodding in Jade's direction, giving her a small smile over the top of the mannequin's head.

Cat just giggles in response, going up on her tiptoes to give Jade a soft peck on the lips. **"Jade, this is Anna." **She unhooks herself from Jade in order to continue swirling the brushes into her hand, tilting her head up at the brunette. Jade reads the expression as a very clear, '_Jade, be nice'._

**"It's nice to finally meet you." **Anna says kindly, but Jade remains mostly uninterested. For Cat's sake, she forces a quick, polite smile, then holds the disgustingly cute lunch bag out toward Cat.

It's bright blue and has Queen Elsa from _Frozen _on the side - it cost an extra four dollars when the two of them went for _Subway _for lunch one day, months ago, but Cat held onto it like it was something to be treasured. It was hardly big enough to hold an adequate lunch - it was meant for kids, after all - but Jade filled it until the seams pulled. It wasn't that Cat wouldn't eat, she just grew distracted over the course of a workday and Jade knew better than to leave her without snacks. Film School had been intense enough that the redhead would sometimes go almost an entire day without eating anything until Jade would show up with a bowl of popcorn she'd snuck from the theatre room, or a bag of (mostly air, and) potato chips from one of the vending machines, to rescue her.

**"Andre suggested banana nutella." **Jade explains as Cat beams and pokes her free hand into the bag curiously, shuffling things around to get a better look. She grins up at Jade's words, grabbing the handles softly with her free hand, swinging it down to rest on the empty makeup chair as she finishes with the brush in her other hand.

**"I think they're about to pull you-know-who back from set," **Anna breaks between them, looking apologetically over at Jade for reasons the brunette can't figure out. Anna turns her attention to Cat instead. **"Might want to take tall, dark, and pretty, here, and sneak out the back." **

**"What's going on?" **Jade asks, her voice coming out with enough snap that Anna takes a little step back in surprise. Cat doesn't seem too affected - she's used to _all _of Jade's tones.

**"Ohmygod, Cat, no way, is this your girlfriend?" **

Jade doesn't even have to turn around to _know _what the look on the girl's face is - a combination of impressed disbelief, and judgement. She _does _turn, though, sighing heavily, ready to tear into this girl if need be. She's not expecting to be met with a hug, wincing away at the sudden contact and turning to Cat and Anna for an explanation. **"Jade, this is Amara." **Cat introduces carefully, leaning back a little as if she expects the brunette to literally _throw _the actress.

**"No offense, but… if I'm being honest -" **the blonde starts, as she pulls away just before Jade was about to push her off. Whatever she's about to say, Jade knows it won't be good. **"You're way prettier than I was picturing. I mean, Cat's like, super pretty. I didn't think you'd **_**both **_**be pretty."**

**"Are you hitting on me or insulting me?" **Jade asks boredly, and Anna snorts loudly into her coffee cup, muffling it with a fake cough.

**"Neither!" **Amara insists, seemingly unaffected by Jade's tone, smiling brightly up at her. **"I'm **_**totally **_**straight." **

**"Because **_**that **_**wasn't glaringly obvious." **Jade muses as she turns away, now, grabbing Cat by the hand. **"C'mon, we're going to eat that outside, it's nice out." **It's a cop out and Cat knows it - Jade doesn't like eating outside, at least not where it's not _paved, _and she isn't a fan of sitting in the sun for too long, either. The redhead doesn't argue, though, smiling either obliviously, or just acting well, and follows Jade's lead out of the tent without a single complaint.

**"See you guys later!" **she calls over her shoulder to the key hair and lead actress, leaning into Jade's side as they step back out into the sun.

Jade quickly hunts down the nearest shady area, slumping down under the branches of a tree and resting her back against the trunk of it. The redhead plops down beside her, weaving their outstretched legs together as she swings the _Frozen _bag into her lap and digs through it contently. The brunette casts a look around what she can see of the set from where they are, trying to get a feel for the shoot. It's been months since she was on a proper set - not that she'd admit it, but she's suddenly hit with a surge of jealousy toward the girl beside her. She really misses this - the energy, the, yes, _people - _it was work that she loved doing. The first little while without work was nice, living on her own schedule and sleeping in, eating what, and when she wanted - it's lost it's allure, now, though. She's just bored. Restless.

**"- what about you, how was your morning? Get lots done?" **she hadn't even realized Cat was talking to her. Turning to the other girl with a blink of confusion, she replays what she was just asked and then nods slowly.

**"Yeah, I did the grocery shopping, ran into Andre." **Cat squirms nervously, and Jade is suddenly reminded that it was Cat's doing that she saw Andre at all. Jade smirks wickedly, resting her hand on Cat's knee and tilting her head innocently. **"Seems strange, though - running into him. He's like a thirty minute drive away."**

**"Hm? Oh. Maybe." **Cat clears her throat, stabbing the straw into the strawberry-kiwi juice pouch that was packed for her. She jumps a little when Jade squeezes her knee softly.

**"Like, some weird twist of fate." **she adds, before pulling her hand away and reaching into the bag herself, pulling out the sandwich she'd made earlier and unwrapping it carefully.

**"Did you guys at least have a nice talk?" **Cat almost squeaks, eying Jade nervously.

**"Mhm." **Once the sandwich is unwrapped, she gently takes the juice from the redhead, exchanging it out for a half of the nutella-banana on whole wheat. Relieved that she has a task for her mouth other than making herself look horribly guilty, Cat takes a bite of the sandwich and then tilts her head back with a genuine moan. Jade's eyebrows shoot up in surprise - she'd sort of forgotten the effect that nutella seemed to have on the redhead. Licking her suddenly dry lips, Jade turns her attention elsewhere. All thoughts of trying to get Cat to admit her earlier plan dissolve. **"When do they need you back?"**

**"Not for a bit. They'll page me." **she assures the brunette, wiping at the corner of her mouth happily before taking another bite of the sandwich. Jade takes a little bite from the half she's still holding and immediately regrets it - the nutella is fine, but she's never been a big fan of the taste of bananas.

Cat finishes her half quickly and Jade immediately hands the remainder of the sandwich to her, reaching into the bag and finding the mini rice cakes - caramel, Cat's favorite - and pops the bag open.

**"Why?" **the redhead asks, now, turning to her.

Jade smirks a little, shaking her head secretively before pressing her hand down to Cat's thigh again. **"No reason." **she lies through her teeth. She's a very good liar, but Cat seems to know her better than that.

As the redhead practically inhales the remainder of the sandwich, Jade scoots a little closer, quite pleased that grass stains won't appear on the black material of her jeans. **"If we have time, when we're done here, we should… move this elsewhere." **Even now, though, they're pretty decently hidden - from where they've gone up a bit of a hill in the park, they can see all of the set below them, though it doesn't seem like anyone can really see them without having to look deliberately.

Cat scoots a little closer, but still protests. **"We shouldn't. Not here, anyway."**

Jade barely resists the urge to roll her eyes, but honours her wishes and slowly pulls her hand away from the girl's thigh. Her heavy exhale is enough punishment for the redhead, who immediately reaches over and turns Jade's face to her own with two fingers under her jaw.

**"Be ready when I come home?" **she suggests, biting her lip as she stares up at the brunette. Jade feels her mouth go a little dry, but she nods slowly, leaning forward and catching Cat's lips with her own. She can feel the redhead smiling into the kiss, her body arching toward her like she's being pulled in to the taller girl by some sort of mysterious force that effects only the two of them. 'Ready' could really mean any number of things, but none of them are likely to be disappointing.

**"I'm already ready." **Jade points out honestly, giving her an amused, knowing look. Cat blushes, grinning down into the little bag of sugary sweetness she's clutching in both hands, now.

**"Well don't start without me."**

**"Or what?" **

The little defiance even surprises Jade herself - it's her style, to push buttons and see how far she can take things - it's _not _like her to tempt punishment, not with people she can't say 'no' to. Cat's fingers creep up onto her thigh, snapping her out of her thoughts about whether or not the remark was appropriate, or not. **"Or I'll think something up to get you back." **The response sends a fit of shivers over the brunette that she barely manages to keep under wraps, her throat tightening a little. She can hear her heart pounding, and she wouldn't be surprised if Cat could hear it, too. It's like her entire body jumps with each beat of it.

Her tone of voice didn't waver, either, when she'd delivered the 'threat'. It was her usual 'Cat' voice - upbeat, and sweet, careless, even. She looked away when Jade did, going back to her snack seemingly obliviously, but Jade couldn't shake the thought. Her sex-life with Cat was healthy enough, sure, but there were still thinks lurking in the recessed areas of her mind that she'd considered suggesting once, or twice. She was sure Cat had a few ideas of her own, too, but neither of them had the chance to really sit down and sort through them.

Maybe tonight would be a good place to start.


End file.
